GIBSON CITY — State Rep. Tom Bennett said he was back home in Gibson City recovering Thursday after being released Wednesday night from Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana, where the Republican lawmaker had been since Sunday evening after crashing his car near Gibson City.
In a text message to the Ford County Chronicle, Bennett said he was “very glad to be home.” Bennett said he was “looking forward” to returning to work “very soon” — “the sooner, the better” — but in the meantime is following doctors’ orders as the three staffers in his district offices in Watseka and Pontiac have been “helping greatly.”
As a result of the accident — which occurred late Sunday afternoon when Bennett’s car went off the road near his hometown in Ford County while he was on his way home from an event in Iroquois County — the veteran state lawmaker, who has served in the General Assembly since 2015 and was reelected on Nov. 8 to another two-year term, was absent from the House floor for the fall veto session this week. Not much happened in his absence, though, other than House Republicans electing Tony McCombie of Savanna as their leader.
“My family and I want to thank everyone who sent us prayers and good wishes after the accident,” said Bennett, who represents the 106th District that currently includes all or parts of Livingston, Iroquois, Woodford, Vermilion and Ford counties. “Thank you to the first responders who answered the call and to the doctors and nurses who put me on the path to recovery. I appreciate you all so very much.”
