Four Critically Hurt In Avondale Crash
CHICAGO (STMW) -- Police say that it appears as though the 21-year-old man who was behind the wheel of a car that struck a light pole in the Northwest Side Avondale neighborhood early Friday may have been under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs as he was speeding down the street, with three others, between 18 and 26 years old, in the car.
The accident happened about 2:50 a.m. in the 3500 block of North Kedzie Avenue, police said.
Apparently the 4-door 1995 Honda Accord was traveling at a high rate of speed when it struck a streetlight pole and wrapped around the pole, police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said.
The crash was so severe that firefighters had to pry the doors off of the car in order to extricate the driver and three passengers, Mirabelli said.
Two people were taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and two others were taken in critical condition to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, Fire Media Affairs said.
The driver, a 21-year-old Northwest Side man, was at Illinois Masonic, Mirabelli said. Charges against him were pending since he remained hospitalized Friday afternoon. Police said it appeared as though speed and the driver being under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs caused the crash.
The passengers were an 18-year-old woman who suffered head injuries and was at Stroger Hospital; a 26-year-old woman who suffered leg and head injuries and was at Stroger Hospital, and a 22-year-old man who suffered both leg and head injuries and was at Illinois Masonic, according to Mirabelli.
An EMS Plan 1, which sends at least five ambulances to the scene, was called for the crash and then secured at 3:15 a.m., Fire Media Affairs said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
