Man Killed In Dan Ryan Crash
Updated: 11/21/10 5:21 p.m.
CHICAGO (STMW) - The death of a Chicago man who was killed early Sunday in a crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway on the South Side has been ruled an accident, a Sunday autopsy revealed.
The crash happened about 2:15 a.m. on the expressway when a 1999 Oldsmobile Aurora swerved to the right and hit a wall near 87th Street, an Illinois District Chicago master sergeant said.
The driver -- identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office as 35-year-old Dion Thompson, of the 3600 block of South Rhodes Avenue -- was not wearing a seat belt and was ejected from the car, the master sergeant said. He died at the scene.
An autopsy Sunday revealed Thompson died from cranio-cerebral injuries from a motor vehicle accident and his death was ruled an accident, according to the medical examiner's office.
After he was ejected, the car continued spinning and struck the wall again before coming to rest in a grassy shoulder, the master sergeant said. A passenger, the man's 29-year-old male relative, was wearing a seat belt and suffered only minor injuries.
The relative had been sleeping when the wreck happened and could not give an accurate account of what happened to authorities, he said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.
Police said alcohol contributed to the wreck, but have not confirmed what caused the crash as of Sunday evening, an Illinois District Chicago trooper said.
State Police are investigating.
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