Five people were hospitalized and a Chicago woman is facing DUI charges after two crashes involving several law enforcement vehicles early Friday on the Dan Ryan expressway.
The injured include two Chicago Police Department officers taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition.
The chain of events started at 2:11 a.m., when an Illinois State Police squad car rear-ended a Chevrolet Suburban, causing the Chevrolet to swerve left and side-swipe a Hyundai Sonata near 89th Street, according to state police Trooper Melissa Albert-Lopez.
A state police vehicle and CPD squad car, both with emergency lights on, pulled up behind the crashed vehicles to alert passing motorists, Albert-Lopez said.
A short while later, the driver of a 2019 Honda Pilot rear-ended the CPD car, pushing it into the back of the second state police vehicle. Both police vehicles were unoccupied when struck, Albert-Lopez said.
The driver of the Honda, 36-year-old Markeila C. Pittman of Chicago, was cited for failing to yield to emergency vehicles and driving under the influence of alcohol while having her license revoked, along with other code violations.
Oyebowale Taiwo, 57, the driver of the Chevrolet, told the Sun-Times Friday that his vehicle was a total loss.
The crash, he said, was disorienting.
“I didn’t know where I was at the moment, it was such a big hit,” Taiwo said.
Taiwo said he wasn’t badly injured, though he did feel some pain in his back. He was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition.
As of early Friday evening, state police had not responded to questions seeking further details on the initial crash, such as whether the trooper driving the car that struck the Chevrolet had been cited.
State troopers, he said, provided no information on whether he would receive any help or compensation for the loss of his vehicle.
Besides the two seriously injured CPD officers, a state trooper also was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, according to Chicago Fire Chief Juan Hernandez. The trooper had minor injuries, according to Albert-Lopez.
One other person was also taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition, said Hernandez. A sixth person declined to be taken to a hospital.
According to Albert-Lopez, the injuries were not life-threatening.
“It was wet and cold and slippery out there,” Hernandez said.
Contributing: Rosemary Sobol
