South Side Chase, Shooting Results In Bus Crash
UPDATED 03/29/11 4:04 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Eleven people were hurt Tuesday morning when a car slammed into a CTA bus while fleeing from a group of men who were shooting at the car while chasing it in two other vehicles.
No one was shot, although 11 people were hurt as a result of the crash.
Chicago police confirmed a Chicago Transit Authority bus carrying nine people was involved in a crash at 75th Street and Vincennes Avenue around 9:30 a.m.
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A black Dodge Intrepid T-boned the bus, sending it straight into a light pole. The pole and the Chicago police pod camera on top of it come crashing to the ground.
One witness, Mark, who works in a currency exchange near 75th and Vincennes, told Newsradio 780 that a small black car with two people inside, came careening around the corner.
"I saw a black, small, two-passenger vehicle car come whipping around the corner from the north, traveling southbound on Vincennes, and it was clearly trying to get away from the gunshots," he said.
As CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, the car ran a red light plowed into the bus, pushing it across the intersection into a vacant lot.
"It hit the CTA bus so hard, it sent him clear across the intersection, knocking over a light pole, and sent the CTA bus into a vacant lot, stopping on the other end of a vacant lot," Mark said.
The driver of the car ran away from the scene, apparently fleeing from two other vehicles that were chasing him, while someone fired an assault weapon.
Sources said two different vehicles were chasing the Intrepid down Vincennes. Three men in a gold Chevy Malibu and a man in a burgundy Dodge Durango were swerving through traffic while shooting at the Intrepid. Sources said the person in the Durango was firing an assault rifle.
Eyewitness David Lyons said bystanders ducked for cover as shots rang out.
"We all hear gunshots firing, everybody just scattered, like roaches," Lyons said.
Witness Keith Johnson said, "We just see a whole bunch of gunshots going off, pow, pow pow! They're firing."
Police officials could not confirm what type of weapon was fired and said they had not yet determined a motive for the shooting as of Tuesday afternoon.
Wentworth Area Deputy Chief Eddie Welch said, "Right now, at this time, it just appears to have been a shootout that resulted in a traffic crash."
While the men were shooting at the Intrepid, one of their bullets hit Mahogony Meyers driver's side window, while she was driving. Meyers had just finished breakfast at a nearby restaurant.
"I heard shooting so I hurried and ducked and after I ducked, glass just went everywhere," Meyers said. The glass shattered "all over my back, my hair, everything."
"I'm blessed," she added.
Several parked cars were hit by gunfire as well.
Bishop Chester McLaurin's car was one of them.
"God's got to do something to get these young men something to do in the daytime and away from all of this violence. It's ridiculous," said McLaurin, pastor of Emmanuel Bible Church.
Fire officials said 11 people were taken to hospitals, while three more refused medical treatment. Their conditions ranged from good to serious, and they were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Stroger Hospital of Cook County, St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center, Jackson Park Hospital and Medical Center, and Advocate Trinity Hospital.
None of the injuries was life-threatening, fire officials said.
Police said they'll be talking to the three men that were in the Intrepid to find out what led to the shootout. No one was in custody for the shooting as of 2 p.m.
