Police: Driver Dead, 2 Other Teens Hospitalized When SUV Flees Police, Plows Into House In Fernwood
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A teenage driver is dead, and two other teens were injured, after a sport-utility vehicle fleeing police crashed plowed into a house in the Far South Side's Fernwood neighborhood Thursday night.
Chicago Police News Affairs Sgt. Rocco Alioto said around 7:20 p.m., officers tried to pull over a stolen SUV at 107th Street and Wentworth Avenue – but the driver sped off.
As CBS 2's Jermont Terry reported, police chased the SUV for nearly five blocks before it lost control. Dispatch reports indicated that the SUV also ran a red light at 103rd Street.
Witnesses said speeds topped more than 100 miles per hour down the residential stretch of Wentworth Avenue.
The driver then lost control, jumped the curb, and slammed into a home in the 10200 block of South Wentworth Avenue. The house sustained "major structural damage," Alioto said.
Three people were in the car that fled the traffic stop. The teenage male driver of the car is dead.
A teenage boy and girl of unidentified ages, but who were identified as suspects, were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center where their condition was stabilized, Alioto said.
The exact ages of the people in the car, or whether they were old enough to drive, was not immediately known.
"Like dumb stuff, like running from the police – they could have pulled over," said Davion Coleman, who saw the chase. "They say one person's dead, so I mean, that's just a traumatic experience on the family."
The house sustained severe damage, and Peoples Gas was called to the scene to ensure there was no gas leak, Alioto said.
There were elderly people in the house. They were not hurt, and they were able to escape through the back of the house. No one in the house was injured, Alioto said.
The Civilian Office of Police Accountability was also notified to determine whether a police chase was involved.
