4 Hurt When Car Lands Upside-Down In Crestwood Creek
Updated 06/20/14 - 2:23 p.m.
CRESTWOOD, Ill. (CBS) -- Four people were injured early Friday, after their car flipped over into a creek in southwest suburban Crestwood.
CBS 2's Courtney Gousman reports firefighters received a call for help around 2 a.m., from Playfield Park, where a car had landed upside down in about four feet of mud and water in Tinley Creek.
Crestwood Fire Chief Jon Bruce said the group of young people in the car never should have been in the park at that hour to begin with.
WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports police said four youths, between the ages of 14 and 21, were involved in "horseplay" at a popular teenage hangout behind Playfield Park, when things turned serious in a hurry.
"They actually lost control of the vehicle, and they went over a small berm, and down into the creek, upside-down," said Crestwood Police Cmdr. David Alexander. "The initial investigation just says they were back there horseplaying, driving recklessly, being silly."
Two of the people in the smashed Chevy Blazer were trapped. Police were able to get one of them out, but firefighters needed to use the jaws of life to cut a 21-year-old woman free, after she was trapped in water up to her neck. Two police officers held her head above water while firefighters worked to get her free.
"We had to put ladders down. We had to put guys in our Gumby suits – floatation devices – because of the water, and it was very muddy. So they were in water and mud, up past their hips," he said. "We used the jaws of life, got her out of the vehicle. We had to put a ladder down – it was a muddy embankment – and bring her up."
Two of the victims were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The other two were taken to Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights. Bruce said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
The woman who had been trapped was the most seriously hurt. She had surgery for a broken arm.