6 children among 9 hurt when ambulance hits minivan in Aurora

Nine people, including six children, were injured in a crash when a minivan ran a stop sign and was hit by an ambulance Wednesday afternoon in west suburban Aurora.

A 25-year-old Chicago man was driving a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country minivan south on West Street at 4:05 p.m. when he “apparently did not see the stop sign” at the intersection with Galena Boulevard, according to Aurora police.

The ambulance, which was transporting a patient and heading west on Galena with its lights and siren on, T-boned the minivan as it went through the stop and into the intersection, police said.

The driver of the minivan had to be extricated from the vehicle by firefighters, police said. There were seven passengers inside at the time of the crash: two 1-year-old twin boys; a 5-year-old boy; an 11-year-old boy; a 3-year-old girl; a 12-year-old girl; and a 20-year-old woman.

All eight of them were taken to Aurora hospitals, police said. One of the twins and the 11-year-old were later airlifted to a hospital, where they were stabilized. All the others taken to hospital were treated and released.

The 36-year-old Aurora Fire Department paramedic who was driving the ambulance was taken to an Aurora hospital, police said. His injuries were minor.

Another paramedic, a 28-year-old man, was treating a 16-year-old girl in the back of the ambulance at the time of the crash, according to police. The patient did not suffer any new injuries in the crash and was taken to a hospital in another ambulance. The paramedic refused medical treatment.

The man driving the minivan was cited for failure to yield at an intersection and failure to secure a child in a child restraint seat, police said. Neither drugs nor alcohol are believed to have been a factor in the crash.