Cops: Wrong-way driver caused fatal LSD crash, alcohol suspected
CAPTIONS
Lake Shore Drive fatal
Firefighters use a saw to cut the door of a Jeep Compass at the scene of a fatal three-car accident on southbound Lake Shore Drive. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune /March 15, 2013)
Firefighters use a saw to cut the door of a Jeep Compass at the scene of a fatal three-car accident on southbound Lake Shore Drive. (Anthony Souffle, Chicago Tribune /March 15, 2013)
Police believe that alcohol may have played a factor when a wrong-way driver struck two vehicles and injured three people, two fatally, in a crash early today on Lake Shore Drive.
The crash happened at about 4 a.m. after a man driving a silver SUV got on the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near LaSalle and Lake Shore Drive, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.
The man was driving northbound on the southbound lanes when the crash happened between Belmont and Diversey Parkway, Mirabelli said. The man's vehicle hit a 2006 Toyota driven by a woman, said Mirabelli.
The man is a North Chicago police officer who has been with the department since 2008, according to statement by the North Chicago police. The statement names the officer, who was off-duty, but the Tribune is not naming the officer because he has not been charged with a crime.
The 35-year-old man lives in the far north suburbs. He was relieved of his police powers while the investigation is ongoing, according to the City of North Chicago release.
After hitting the first vehicle, the man smashed into a 2013 Jeep, killing Fabian Torres, 27, of the 2800 block of South Avers Avenue, and Joaquin Garcia, of the 2200 block of West 18th Place, according to Mirabelli and the Cook County medical examiner's office.
The wrong-way driver is estimated to have been traveling more than 60 mph. Drivers traveling southbound told police that they were veering to avoid the man. They also say they had flashed their lights to let him know that he was traveling the wrong direction, Mirabelli said.
The man was the only occupant in his vehicle, a 2008 Chevy SUV. He is at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital with a fractured hip. His condition had stabilized, Mirabelli said.
The woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was to be treated and released for her injuries, Mirabelli said.
Police are investigating whether alcohol played a factor in the crash.
The crash and the investigation closed southbound Lake Shore Drive as traffic was diverted off at the Belmont Avenue exit for more than five hours. The lanes were reopened by about 9 a.m., police said.
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. confirmed that one of the city’s police officers was involved in the crash.
Rockingham said the officer was off-duty at the time of the crash and has been placed on leave pending the completion of the Chicago Police Department's investigation into the crash.
A woman at the officer's boyhood home, who identified herself as his mother, refused comment Friday evening.
Nathan Horton, a long-time friend and neighbor of the house where the officer grew up, said the officer “was a really good” basketball player on school teams in both elementary school and North Chicago High School.
Horton said his neighbor has always been an outgoing guy, “quick to approach people as a friend, and someone who always helped people out."
"This is a bad neighborhood and some kids were climbing over the fence in our backyard, and it was [the officer] who talked to the kids and told them to stay away,” Horton said.
Horton said the officer was not known to be a reckless driver in the close-knit, dead end section of houses in the North Chicago neighborhood.
“He rides a motorcycle and if he was a drinker, he wasn’t one around here," Horton said. "I never saw him at the local parties and I never saw him intoxicated."
“Honestly, when he became a cop I was surprised because you have to be a physical person to be a cop, and he was a helpful guy but never the type of guy to be confrontational or intimidating,” Horton said.
The mayor lamented that it was the latest trouble involving the North Chicago Police Department, which has faced multiple claims of excessive force over the past and the recent arrest of its former police chief.
“We can’t get out from under that cloud,” the mayor said.
Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin and freelance reporter Denys Bucksten contributed.
csadovi@tribune.com
Twitter: @csadovi
mswasko@tribune.com
Twitter: @mickswasko
pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas
The crash happened at about 4 a.m. after a man driving a silver SUV got on the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near LaSalle and Lake Shore Drive, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli.
The man was driving northbound on the southbound lanes when the crash happened between Belmont and Diversey Parkway, Mirabelli said. The man's vehicle hit a 2006 Toyota driven by a woman, said Mirabelli.
The man is a North Chicago police officer who has been with the department since 2008, according to statement by the North Chicago police. The statement names the officer, who was off-duty, but the Tribune is not naming the officer because he has not been charged with a crime.
The 35-year-old man lives in the far north suburbs. He was relieved of his police powers while the investigation is ongoing, according to the City of North Chicago release.
The wrong-way driver is estimated to have been traveling more than 60 mph. Drivers traveling southbound told police that they were veering to avoid the man. They also say they had flashed their lights to let him know that he was traveling the wrong direction, Mirabelli said.
The man was the only occupant in his vehicle, a 2008 Chevy SUV. He is at Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital with a fractured hip. His condition had stabilized, Mirabelli said.
The woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she was to be treated and released for her injuries, Mirabelli said.
Police are investigating whether alcohol played a factor in the crash.
The crash and the investigation closed southbound Lake Shore Drive as traffic was diverted off at the Belmont Avenue exit for more than five hours. The lanes were reopened by about 9 a.m., police said.
North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. confirmed that one of the city’s police officers was involved in the crash.
Rockingham said the officer was off-duty at the time of the crash and has been placed on leave pending the completion of the Chicago Police Department's investigation into the crash.
A woman at the officer's boyhood home, who identified herself as his mother, refused comment Friday evening.
Nathan Horton, a long-time friend and neighbor of the house where the officer grew up, said the officer “was a really good” basketball player on school teams in both elementary school and North Chicago High School.
Horton said his neighbor has always been an outgoing guy, “quick to approach people as a friend, and someone who always helped people out."
"This is a bad neighborhood and some kids were climbing over the fence in our backyard, and it was [the officer] who talked to the kids and told them to stay away,” Horton said.
Horton said the officer was not known to be a reckless driver in the close-knit, dead end section of houses in the North Chicago neighborhood.
“He rides a motorcycle and if he was a drinker, he wasn’t one around here," Horton said. "I never saw him at the local parties and I never saw him intoxicated."
“Honestly, when he became a cop I was surprised because you have to be a physical person to be a cop, and he was a helpful guy but never the type of guy to be confrontational or intimidating,” Horton said.
The mayor lamented that it was the latest trouble involving the North Chicago Police Department, which has faced multiple claims of excessive force over the past and the recent arrest of its former police chief.
“We can’t get out from under that cloud,” the mayor said.
Tribune reporter Robert McCoppin and freelance reporter Denys Bucksten contributed.
csadovi@tribune.com
Twitter: @csadovi
mswasko@tribune.com
Twitter: @mickswasko
pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-lake-shore-drive-crash-20130315,0,5631580.story
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