Two killed in wrong-way crash in Rolling Meadows

A wrong-way driver and a taxi driver were killed in a head-on crash early Tuesday on Route 53 in northwest suburban Rolling Meadows.

Zachary Sipe, 21, was driving a 2014 Toyota south in the northbound lanes of Route 53 near Euclid Avenue at 3:56 a.m. when his vehicle crashed into a 2010 Chevrolet, continued the wrong way, then crashed head-on with a 2006 Toyota taxi, according to Illinois State Police.

Sipe, of the 1600 block of North Rosetree Lane in Mount Prospect, was pronounced dead at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights at 4:30 a.m., according to state police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The taxi driver, 64-year-old Peter Wierzbicki, was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:38 a.m., according to police and the medical examiner’s office. He lived in the 4500 block of Beau Monde Drive in Lisle.

The driver of the Chevrolet refused medical attention at the scene.

Northbound lanes were closed for more than four hours after the crash, but were reopened by 8:45 a.m., police said.

The crash remains under investigation.