ATV rollover claims the life of 19-year-old Illinois student
March 2nd, 2010 by Kurt Niland
A 19-year old Illinois man died Saturday evening after the all-terrain vehicle he was driving rolled over and landed on top of him. Authorities investigating the accident said the victim, identified as Leonard Mlynarczyk, a resident of Bloomingdale in the Chicago suburbs, was riding his ATV at a park in Yorkville around 10 p.m. Saturday night when the accident occurred.
Bloomingdale police said that Mlynarczyk was rushed to Copley Medical Center in Aurora where he was pronounced dead later that evening. They did not specify the nature of Mlynarczyk’s injuries and the accident remains under investigation.
The fatal rollover stunned Mlynarczyk’s friends and family. According to Chicago’s Daily Herald, the man’s father, Marion Mlynarczyk said his son was an experienced driver of both three- and four-wheeled ATVs and dirt bikes.
“He just loves it, it’s like he was born with that (passion),” his father told the Daily Herald, which noted that “Even the main photo on his Facebook profile includes a photo of Mlynarczyk atop an ATV.”
Mlynarczyk was the youngest of five children. He graduated last year from Glenbard North High School and was studying to become a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning specialist.
“If you knew him, you would like him right away because he was such a positive person. Everybody liked him (because) he was always willing to help and always giving good advice,” his father said.
Mlynarczyk’s father said that his son “was looking forward to graduating and working as a Union Guy.”
“We are going to miss him tremendously and I don’t know how we are going to fill the gap he left. I look at his pictures and he is so full of life and hope, and now he’s gone,” his father told the Daily Herald.