Woman dies in wrong-way crash on West Side; 1 in custody

A 67-year-old woman was killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver who was trying to merge onto Interstate 290 Sunday on the West Side, police said.

About 3:40 a.m., a 22-year-old man driving a red Dodge pickup in the 600 block of South Austin Boulevard merged in the wrong direction onto the off ramp exit of the expressway, Chicago police said.

The Dodge struck the driver’s side of a white Kia Soul being driven by Frances Ellen Poole, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office

Poole was pronounced dead on the scene, police said. An autopsy confirmed she died of multiple injuries from the crash and ruled her death an accident, the medical examiner’s office said.

The man was hospitalized with minor injuries and was taken into custody, police said.

Area Four detectives are investigating.