A 63-year-old woman died after a two-vehicle crash Sunday night in southwest suburban Joliet.
A 1999 Honda Accord was heading southbound on Gardner Street when the driver ran a stop sign at the intersection with 5th Avenue and crashed into an eastbound 2003 Ford Explorer about 8:15 p.m., according to Joliet police.
The Accord struck the rear driver’s side door of the Explorer, police said. The Explorer was pushed off the road and struck a home in the 100 block of Fifth Avenue, which sustained minimal damage. The Accord struck a tree, spun around and came to rest.
When officers arrived at the scene of the crash, a backseat passenger in the Explorer, 63-year-old Patricia A. Wells, was unconscious and taken to Presence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, where she died at 9:56 p.m., according to police and the Will County coroner’s office.
Wells, who lived in Joliet, suffered rib fractures in the crash, but her cause and manner of death are pending further studies, according to police and the coroner’s office. She also had preexisting medical conditions.
The driver of the Explorer, a 59-year-old woman, and another passenger, an 83-year-old woman, suffered very minor injuries and were taken to hospitals, police said.
A backseat passenger in the Accord also suffered a minor head injury and was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, police said.
The 17-year-old driver of the Accord was cited for failure to stop at a stop sign and speeding, police said. Additional citations or charges are possible.
