Man dies when SUV plunges into river

BYRON – A former Mount Morris man died Monday when his SUV plunged into the Rock River north of here.

Jason A. Ferrell, 36, of Rockford, was pronounced dead at the scene near the intersection of state Route 2 and Kennedy Hill Road.

“We know what happened, we just don’t know why,” Ogle County Sheriff Greg Beitel said Monday afternoon.

According to Beitel, the accident happened around 10:30 a.m. when Ferrell, southbound on Kennedy Hill, apparently lost control of his SUV. He drove off the road, narrowly missing a man mowing the ditch, crossed Route 2 at the T-intersection and went into the river.

A doctor aboard the rescue helicopter pronounced him dead 40 minutes later, after divers from the Byron, Oregon, and Blackhawk fire departments pulled him from his 1995 Ford Explorer, which was about 250 feet downstream from where it went in.

“The current is extremely strong and carried the vehicle quite a distance,” Beitel said.

Investigators may attempt to retrieve information from the vehicle’s “black box” to determine the SUV’s speed, and the Ogle County coroner’s office will perform an autopsy, Beitel said.