CPD officer, elderly man and woman injured in Belmont Cragin crash
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago Police officer and two elderly people were injured in a crash late Wednesday morning in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Shakespeare (14th) District Cmdr. Elizabeth Collazo said at 11:37 a.m., Area Five detectives in an unmarked squad car were conducting an investigation at Fullerton and Central avenues and tried to stop a suspect vehicle. The suspect obeyed at first, then took off.
The suspect vehicle hit a marked Chicago Police squad car that was traveling south on Central Avenue. The squad car that was struck was in the area for a separate reason.
Daisy Villad is manager of the Sbarro pizzeria at 5554 W. Fullerton Ave. behind the bus stop where the man and woman were hit. She witnessed the crash as it happened.
"I was trying to change the channel on my TV, and I saw a white car just coming down Central - and at the same time I saw a cop car coming down Fullerton," Villad said. "The cop car spun. The white car kept going."
Villad was surprised by what she saw.
"I thought they were going to stop because everybody was stopped, but they ended up crashing," she said.
The suspect vehicle then veered in the direction of an 83-year-old woman and an 81-year-old man who were standing at a bus stop at the southeast corner of Central and Fullerton avenues. Both were injured and their conditions were stabilized, Collazo said.
"Just laying on the floor on the side," Villad said. "His head was on the curb and half was on the street."
The man and woman were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
It was not known late Wednesday whether the people at the bus stop were directly hit by the offending vehicle or injured as they bailed out of the way.
No police vehicles veered in the direction of the bus stop, Collazo said.
One Chicago Police officer was also injured and taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic, where the officer's condition was stabilized.
At the scene, glasses were left shattered on the ground, a hat lay in the road, and a Chicago Police patrol car was totaled.
"It's a sad accident," witness Suani Martinez said in Spanish.
Martinez took video of the immediate aftermath of the crash as an officer was wheeled off in a stretcher.
Witnesses told CBS 2's Sabrina Franza they are thankful no students or parents were outside at the time. The scene of the crash is just steps from both Hanson Park Elementary School and Dr. Jorge Prieto Math and Science Academy.
"I was just concerned - because this place is covered with children and high schoolers and parents, so it was just crazy to see that everybody just stopped except those two cars," said Villad.
The man driving the offending vehicle and a woman in the passenger seat were taken into police custody, Collazo said. A gun was recovered in the car.
Police were not able to tell us why they were investigating the suspect who took off.
The officers involved had their body cameras on, and detectives are reviewing POD camera footage, Collazo said.