CHICAGO (WLS) — A serious West Side crash left two men dead and a woman critically injured early Sunday morning, Chicago police said.
Two families are in mourning Sunday as a result of the crash, and while the victims’ names are not yet known, police said the crash was the result of one of the two drivers running a red light and colliding with the other.
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Police said officers were on their way to respond to a call when they saw a dark-colored sedan speeding southbound on Central Avenue. The officers reported the vehicle to dispatchers and continued to their initial call.
A short time later, police said, a 36-year-old man was driving another dark-colored sedan eastbound on Augusta Boulevard when he ran a red light at Central Avenue just after 2 a.m., striking the sedan originally spotted by officers.
One of the sedans also struck the front end of a beige minivan, which was arriving at the light.
“Black Honda went around me on the wrong side of the street, ran the light and collided with what appeared to be a Chevy,” witness Richard Barnes said.
The sedans eventually stopped in the yards of two separate South Austin homes. Three people in those two vehicles suffered severe trauma to their bodies.
Police said the 36-year-old driver was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A 35-year-old woman, who was a passenger in the same sedan, was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition.
A 22-year-old man, who was driving the other sedan, was also taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The 45-year-old man who was driving the minivan did not report any injuries and refused medical services.
Debris laid everywhere after the crash, with a mangled fence on one side of the street with a vehicle laying in the front yard of a home was probably the most shocking sight. Residents went about trying to clean up what they could, more than eight hours after a loud boom startled what was an otherwise uneventful night.
“The noise was like an explosion,” said Di Angelo Smith, whose home was damaged by the crash. “To see the car just fly past, and to see the smoke everywhere and then you trying to move the smoke, and there’s debris everywhere.”
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The Cook County Medical Examiner has not yet identified the victims as of Sunday afternoon, saying they are pending family notification.
“He was ejected from the car laying in the grass,” Smith said. “We were trying to aid, assist him with you know life services. We were told to kind of stand back and wait for officials to come to his aid.”
The Chicago Police Department’s Major Accident detectives are investigating the crash.
Police did not immediately provide further information.
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