In a startling incident that could have ended much worse, a woman in Chicago is on the mend after a piece of concrete plummeted from an overpass, smashing into her vehicle’s windshield. The frightening event took place on Friday on the I-55 at Pulaski.
The woman, who was subsequently taken to a hospital, suffered several cuts on her face, neck, and hands. Her family reports that she is grappling with trauma but is fortunate to have survived the ordeal.
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The victim has been identified as 53-year-old Oksana Kovalchuk. Her relatives, in an effort to highlight the severity of the incident, shared photos of the wreckage with ABC7.
According to her family, a two-foot-long piece of concrete came crashing through the windshield of Kovalchuk’s Lexus SUV, shattering into three pieces upon impact.
The mishap occurred around mid-afternoon as she was traveling northbound on I-55. The Illinois State Police confirmed that the debris originated from the Pulaski overpass and struck the vehicle as it fell.
Illinois State Police confirmed the debris came from the Pulaski overpass, and it fell and hit the vehicle.
Kovalchuk’s daughter, Viktoriya Petriv, says it missed her mother’s head by a couple of inches.
“She had pieces of glass in her hair, pieces of glass in her ears, in her mouth, in her nose, in her back, everywhere all over her,” Petriv said. “It’s just horrifying that it could happen, that it happened to us. It could happen to anyone. It could happen again tonight, tomorrow to someone.”
Kovalchuk, who lives in Justice, was taken to St. Anthony Hospital after relatives say another driver saw what happened, pulled over, and called 911.
State police said one lane of I-55 traffic was blocked for about a half hour.
The family is speaking out as a warning to others and is seeking answers as to how this could have happened.
ABC7 has left a message for IDOT for more information about the incident.
