3 Family Members Killed In Orland Park Crash
UPDATED 04/16/12 - 5:50 p.m.
ORLAND PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A southwest suburban family is mourning three of its own, after they were killed in a multi-vehicle accident in Orland Park this past weekend.
As CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli reports, the crash happened just before 10 p.m. Sunday. Three vehicles were involved, carrying a total of seven people.
As WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger, police are still investigating, but it appears that the family's Toyota Camry collided with a street sweeper and a pick-up truck at 171st Street and LaGrange Road in Orland Park.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports
Podcast
Their sister-in-law tells WBBM Newsradio that Wafieh Deis, 49, of Tinley Park, and her 15-year-old daughter, Samah, were both killed instantly.
The husband and father, Nazmi, 62, was pronounced died later at Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights. The couple's 24-year-old daughter, who was driving, was injured in the crash.
As CBS 2's Jim Williams reports, many relatives and friends rushed to the Deis family home in Tinley Park on Monday to help console the victims' family. So did the mayor of Tinley Park, even though he didn't know the victims.
"We want to extend our sympathies to them and offer them anything we can do lessen the pain for the family," he said.
The victims' family was in anguish over the deaths; but they were also angry at Orland Park police, after an officer gave that woman a ticket while she was at the hospital, recovering from her injuries and mourning her family's deaths.
She was driving the Toyota at the time of the crash. She is expected to survive, but family members were furious Monday, because they say an Orland Park police officer gave her a ticket while she was still in the hospital. She was cited for refusing to yield while making a left turn.
"She's in the hospital. She doesn't know what's going on. She's blaming herself. And he's coming, slipping a ticket next to her while her parents are dead," Thair Deis said.
Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy said an initial investigation indicated the 24-year-old woman was at fault for the crash, and because there were fatalities, police had to issue a ticket in order to get a blood sample, which they needed to get right away. According to McCarthy, a witness has since told police that the woman was not at fault for the crash, so her ticket will be thrown out.
The Deis' nephew, Thair Deis, said the victims "were out for a Sunday dinner at Olive Garden, and never made it home."
The family said Nazmi Deis worked at a local store. He and his wife were Palestinian immigrants who came from Jerusalem in 1978.
"All he did was work hard in his life. He came for a better life here," relative Kamal Mashi said. "I guess God had it written for him."
Samah was a student at Andrew High School in Tinley Park. Grief counselors visited the school on Monday to help students cope with the death of their classmate.
The driver of one of the trucks involved was also taken to an area hospital, but his condition was not known.
