Park Ridge officer placed on desk duty after inconsistencies reported in serious crash

A Park Ridge officer has been placed on desk duty after inconsistencies were found in his report regarding a two-vehicle crash that left four people injured Wednesday.

Several witnesses corroborated the officer’s report, but inconsistencies between the initial and later understanding of the crash — which sent two people flying out of a vehicle — caused the department to launch an administrative review on Thursday. The officer has been placed on administrative duties until the review is completed by an independent agency, police said.

Police did not disclose what the inconsistencies were.

About 11 p.m. Wednesday, an officer was conducting radar enforcement in the 1300 block of Higgins Road when he saw two vehicles — one of them a red Chevy– driving westbound at about 85 mph, according to Park Ridge police.

The officer, attempting to stop the vehicles, saw the Chevy head northbound on Dee Road. The officer tried to catch up to the Chevy, which sped northbound while swerving in and out of traffic, then turned on Devon Street, police said.

In his report, the officer said he notified dispatch twice before activating his emergency lights near Greenwood and Devon. He then saw the Chevy run a red light at Devon and Cumberland and strike a northbound 2014 Audi, police said.

After striking the Audi, the Chevy hit a tree and a light pole before coming to a rest on Devon, police said.

The 20-year-old Park Ridge man driving the Chevrolet and his two passengers — an 18-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man — were all taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, police said. Both of the passengers were ejected from the car.

The driver has been released from the hospital as of Friday morning, police said. The male passenger remains in “critical but stable condition,” while the female’s condition was stabilized, police said on Sunday.

The driver of the Audi, a 24-year-old Park Ridge woman, was taken to Resurrection Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. She has since been released.

Investigators interviewed the Chevy’s female passenger, who said all the occupants were sitting up front and had been “cruising’” around for half an hour before the crash. She said the driver was “driving aggressively” before she and the other passenger warned him about the red light and the approaching Audi, police said. She added that she didn’t know a police car was attempting to stop them.

Charges had not been filed against the driver as of Sunday.