Elderly couple dies after crashing into building near Lincolnwood mall

A second person has died after a crash in north suburban Lincolnwood, exactly a week after her husband died from injuries he suffered in the same crash.

Ramchandra Patel, 79, died early Friday at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His wife, 78-year-old Savita Patel, died the Friday before, shortly after the crash that happened Sept. 26 near the Lincolnwood mall.

The two were in a vehicle traveling about 12:40 p.m. outside the Kohl’s near 3333 W. Touhy Ave. when Savita turned left and crashed into a parked car and then a wall of a building, Lincolnwood police said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Savita, who was driving with her husband in the passenger seat, may have accelerated due to what was believed to be a medical condition, police said.

A Friday autopsy found Savita’s cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries from a vehicle striking a building, the medical examiner’s office said. Her death, pronounced at 9:15 p.m. Sept. 26, was ruled an accident.

Ramchandra Patel’s autopsy found he died from complications of multiple blunt force injuries. He was pronounced Friday at 2:48 a.m.