18 Months Later An Arrest In Fatal I-80 Crash

A fatal hit and run crash on I-80 from more than a year ago has resulted in an arrest. Illinois State Police have arrested 38-year old  Carrifthian N. Lester of Calumet City for failure to report an accident involving personal injury or death. It was on January 18th, 2018 at 4 a.m. when a truck hit the vehicle of Joliet native Aaron Scofield which resulted in Scoffield’s vehicle becoming disabled in the middle of I-80 near I-355 with no lights or power. The driver of the truck fled the scene and another vehicle subsequently slammed into the rear of Scofield’s vehicle and he died of his injuries.

In May of 2018, ISP Investigations were requested to investigate the circumstances of two crashes in order to identify an unknown offender whose vehicle had come in contact with Scofield’s vehicle and ultimately resulted in a second crash which claimed the life of Scofield.

On August 20, 2019, Lester was taken into custody by the ISP. Lester was transported to the Will County Jail, and is awaiting a $150,000 bond hearing.

Original story below

A 31-year-old Chicago man who grew up in Joliet, has died after an early morning accident on I-80 eastbound in Will County. It was at 4:00 a.m. Thursday morning that a 2005 Toyota 4Runner was traveling eastbound on I-80 just east of I-355 in the center lane when the vehicle was forced to swerve to avoid a Kia Soul that was stationary in that lane. The front of the Toyota struck the front drivers side of the Kia which ended up ejecting Aaron Scofield from the vehicle. Both drivers were transported to an area hospital for injures. Scofield was pronounced deceased at the hospital.  It is unknown at this time as to why the Kia was stationary with no lights on in the center lane. Scofield was a Joliet West High School graduate. The Illinois State Police Crash Reconstruction Unit is currently investigating the crash.