Car Accident, River Drowning Victims Identified by Coroner

The names of two people who were declared deceased this weekend in Joliet have been been released by the Will County Coroner's Office.

In the first case, Norma J. Dantzler, 74, of Lockport, was killed in a 9:20 a.m. Saturday car accident at the intersection of Route 53/Chicago Street and Louis Road. An autopsy conducted Sunday determined that the preliminary cause of death, pending the results of toxicology results, was multiple injuries sustained in a two-car collision.

The Illinois State Police said Saturday that Dantzler was attempting to turn onto Route 53 from Louis Road when she pulled in front of an oncoming northbound SUV. Four people in the SUV were injured in taken to area hospitals.

In the second case, the body of a man pulled out of the Des Plaines River shortly before 6 p.m. Saturday has been identified as Leslie D. Bridges, 24, of Joliet.

The coroner's office reported that Bridges' preliminary cause of death was believed to be drowning, but toxicology tests are still pending.

Bridges was discovered by a tug boat operator in an area of the river north of the Interstate 80 bridge. He was pronounced dead at about 6 p.m. in the 700 block of Railroad Street.

No details on whether Bridges' death was the result of his own action or someone else's were available.

According to Will County records, Bridges was arrested in June 2012 on charges of home invasion, aggravated assault and knowingly damaging property. Bridges allegedly pulled a knife on his former landlord in order to retrieve items that had been confiscated from his apartment, a police report at the time said.