Stolen car crashes into 7 other vehicles, kills 2 and injures 16 before bursting into flames in Chicago
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: In a horrifying car crash at South Cottage Grove Avenue and East 87th Street, 2 people were killed and a dozen others injured after a stolen speeding Dodge Charger struck seven other vehicles around 5 pm on Wednesday, November 23. Paramedics needed at least 10 ambulances to respond to the crash that sent 16 crash victims to the hospital.
“Obviously there was a high rate of speed involved, an extremely high rate of speed,” said Chicago Fire Department spokesperson Larry Merritt. Explaining the heart-thumping crash he added that one car was turned over, and another that caught fire was “completely disintegrated,” according to Chicago Tribune. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I’ve seen many accidents,” he said. Two people, believed to be car thieves, were pronounced dead at the scene.
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A black Dodge Charger car raced north on the wrong side of the road before slamming into other vehicles and bursting into flames, said Chicago police Superintendent David Brown. Seven minors and nine adults were hospitalized as a result of the crash, Brown informed. A pile of six cars, one charred, one flipped atop the bunch, along with two more damaged vehicles nearby.
The car had been reported stolen in Markham earlier Wednesday, and a gun was found in the back of the vehicle, he said adding the two occupants of the Charger died. “Slowing down will save lives. Speed kills, and it did tonight. It’s senseless and tragic,” he said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot added, “We have to slow down,” claiming that speed is the major cause of the over 100 traffic death that occurred this year. Lightfoot also said there was little the city could do beyond what is already being done in combatting such accidents. “Other than really getting more aggressive about frankly arresting people and locking them up. I hate that it would have to come to that, but what I’m fearful of is the people who are out walking on the sidewalk, crossing the street or other cars like we saw here tonight,” Lightfoot told the source.
The identity of the two deceased occupants of the burnt charger remains unknown. Police spokesperson Tom Ahern said the car will be brought to the Cook County medical examiner’s office where the bodies of the people who were inside it will be removed and identified. It is also not known why the suspects were speeding or how fast the car was traveling but Brwon added, that the police cameras caught the speeding car and the crash. The victims injured in the crash were sent to various hospitals.