A Chicago woman is on the mend after a frightening incident where a piece of concrete from an overpass struck her car’s windshield. The accident took place on Friday along I-55 at Pulaski.
The woman, who was driving at the time, sustained multiple cuts to her face, neck, and hands, leading to her hospitalization. Her family describes her as traumatized by the ordeal but also fortunate to have survived.
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Family members of the 53-year-old victim, Oksana Kovalchuk, shared photographs of the vehicle’s damage with ABC7, highlighting the severity of the incident.
According to her relatives, a two-foot-long piece of concrete smashed through the windshield of her Lexus SUV, breaking into three separate pieces upon impact.
The incident occurred in the early afternoon while she was heading north on I-55.
The Illinois State Police have verified that the debris originated from the Pulaski overpass, confirming that it fell and struck Kovalchuk’s 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.
