ABC 7 Chicago: Motorcyclist killed in Bishop Ford hit-and-run on way home from watching Bears game, suspect charged with DUI

Very sad story:

A motorcyclist was killed in a hit-and-run crash on the Bishop Ford Freeway in Chicago Friday morning and a driver has been arrested and charged with DUI, Illinois State Police said.

The crash occurred in the inbound Bishop Ford at 111th Street just before 2 a.m. Police said the motorcyclist was struck and killed by a car and the driver of the car did not stop.

The motorcycle driver, a 42-year-old man, was transported to Roseland Hospital and later died. Friends identified him as Eric Smith.

The victim was watching the Bears game Thursday night according to friends and was heading home. His girlfriend was apparently trailing him in a car not far behind and witnessed him get hit as the other driver sped away.

"He was getting off there with his girlfriend trailing him so she's very distraught because she was able to witness the whole thing," said Percy Hope, the victim's friend.

The driver of the car was later taken into custody at 103rd Street and Stony Island Avenue and charged with DUI, police said. Police have not released the driver's name.

As always be careful out there! 

CBS Chicago: Off-Duty CPD Officer Injured By Suspected Drunk Driver On Dan Ryan

[VIDEO] You might have seen this on the CBS 2 over the weekend. An off-duty police officer in a car accident on the Dan Ryan near 79th Street. The driver that hit him was charged with DUI, you will see him in this report struggling with a sobriety test.

Tribune: Pickup truck crashes into CTA station entrance

87th Street auxilliary entrance via Chicago-L.org

This incident occurred Sunday night:

The collision happened just before 9 p.m. at the 87th Street station's auxilliary entrance that sits on the north side of the 87th Street overpass, according to CTA officials.

The westbound pickup truck jumped the curb and collided with the glass double doors, officials said.

Chicago police confirmed the crash, adding that Illinois State police were handling the incidwent because the pickup's driver was suspected of a previous offense minutes before the collision.

The pickup's driver was being held pending DUI charges, state police said.

Two people from the crash were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Chicago Fire Department officials said.

One was transported in serious-to-critical condition and the second patient was in fair-to-serious condition, a spokesman said. It was unclear whether they were CTA passengers or were inside the pickup truck.

Also in another report from the Sun-Times

CTA spokesman Brian Steele said the vehicle “made contact” with glass double doors at the auxiliary entrance, which is located on the north side of 87th Street across from the station’s main entrance. The station remained open, and service on the Red Line was not affected, Steele said.

We Need Your Help!!!

This was a comment left for a post on the board several months ago concerning the young lady killed on 87th King drive. This young lady needs some help to get closure on this event. Can any of our readers help her?

Trishaun has left a new comment on your post "15 year old girl dies in Chatham hit-and-run":

Shayla Raymond was my bestfriend( Still is).. She didnt deserve this.. She was just trying to get home.. Her birthday is coming up and we've been planning this year since we were in 4th grade.. Now what are we (me and our other two bestfriends) going to do?? We have to mourn this day because shes gone.. I dont want to sound selfish because it was her time but it just dont add up and its still no working out.. I want the truth... , Trishaun Coleman

4 injured in alcohol-related Dan Ryan crash

Tribune:

The crash happened at about 3:30 a.m. when the driver of a Chevy Tahoe headed south near 95th Street tried to swerve across several lanes of traffic, said Master Sgt. Gregory Coate.

The SUV went out of control and flipped over, ejecting the driver and three passengers. None was wearing a seat belt, police said.

The driver was most seriously hurt and was taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was on a ventilator, police said. The passengers suffered minor injuries and were also taken to local hospitals.

Preliminary investigations indicated that the driver was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, Coate said.

Please don't drink and drive out there people!

Police chase ends in crash, four in custody

Sun-Times:

Four suspects wanted for firing shots from a vehicle are in custody after leading police on a chase on the Dan Ryan Expressway that ended in a crash on the South Side early Monday.

At 1:45 a.m., Targeted Response Unit officers were in the 5100 block of South Union Avenue on a routine patrol when they heard shots fired from a vehicle, according to a statement from Chicago police News Affairs.

The vehicle from which the shots were fired fled the scene and the officers pursued the vehicle onto the Dan Ryan Expressway. The suspects took the West 79th Street exit and and crashed in the 7900 block of South Lafayette. Four people were arrested and taken to Saint Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center with minor injuries, the statement said.

More from the Tribune:

The sequence of events began about 1:45 a.m. when officers on routine patrol near 5100 S. Union Ave. heard shots and gave chase to a fleeing car they identified as their source, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

As the car sped away, another car trying to get out of the way crashed into a viaduct at 5100 S. Princeton Avenue. Police called the crash "an unrelated incident," but an officer on the scene said there was a connection. Two men inside that car were taken to Stroger Hospital. Their conditions were not available.

A relative of one of the victims in the second car said they were driving away from a party near 51st and Union after shots were fired there. It wasn't clear if those were the shots that police had heard. One of the victims was thrown from the car and suffered massive head injuries and a broken pelvis, the relative said. The second victim was reported as saying he had no feeling in his legs.

The police chase continued on the Dan Ryan Expressway, with police observing a gun thrown out of the car in front of them, according to one report. That weapon was later recovered near 71st Street.

Sounds real nasty! And found this thru the 6th Ward EveryBlock feed.

Chicago police officers injured in crash in Chatham

Tribune:

Two Chicago police officers were hospitalized Monday evening after the squad car they were driving struck a utility pole in the Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, police said.

The accident at about 10:30 p.m. 300 block of East 79th Street involved two officers from the Gresham district, said Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro.

They were responding to a call when they lost control of their squad car and struck a pole, Alfaro said. No pedestrians were injured, he said.

The injuries to the officers were non-life threatening. So we should expect that they'll be alright.

A dangerous afternoon...

Today was a dangerous afternoon in the neighborhood.  It just a few minutes/ less than a mile,  i saw a number of problems:

- A single car crashed into a tree on 78th, just East before Indiana

- A car crash on 79th just west of Prairie.  A fire truck & an ambulance blocked the eastbound lane.

- The alley along the 7700 block of King Drive (west side) was blocked by a police vehicle, and I believe yellow police tape.

Any one with details on these incidents?

One dead after CTA bus, van collision on South Side

Sun-Times:

A Far South Side woman has died early Wednesday and 9 others were hospitalized when a van rear-ended a CTA bus in the South Side Chatham neighborhood Tuesday afternoon.

Patricia Blackburn, 62, of the 12900 block of South Normal Avenue, was pronounced dead at 3:32 a.m. at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

Blackburn was a passenger in a motor vehicle involved in a crash at 83rd Street and Cottage Grove Avenue, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Authorities indicated Blackburn was most likely inside the van when the crash occurred.

CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said a southbound No. 4 Cottage Grove bus was stopped at the intersection of 83rd Street and Cottage Grove when it was struck from behind by a van about 4:40 p.m.

More info from Chicago Breaking News:

Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said the driver was tailgating the bus. The driver of the van received multiple citations.

Perez said there were 13 people on the CTA bus, and at least one of those people was among the injured.

If you read the blog and are into prayer, they are certainly needed here!

Was a cop protected?

Tribune:

For the second time in just over a month, an off-duty Chicago cop has been arrested in a fatal crash involving alcohol, raising troubling questions again about the treatment of cops who drink too much and drive.

Richard Bolling, 39, is accused of striking and killing 13-year-old Trenton Booker at about 1:30 a.m. on May 22 at the corner of Ashland Avenue and 81st Street, then speeding away in his Dodge Charger. Trenton had sneaked out of his house and was riding his bike with friends. He was left broken and bleeding on the street.

Cops found Bolling about five blocks away driving the wrong way down a one-way street. They noticed that Bolling smelled of alcohol, had an open beer bottle and the front of his car was damaged. Bolling allegedly had been in a South Side bar for a couple of hours earlier that evening. He initially refused a Breathalyzer test, as was his right. Bolling's supervisors compelled him to submit to the Breathalyzer four hours later and eight hours after that his blood was drawn. The Breathalyzer showed his blood alcohol level to be at 0.079, just below the legal limit of 0.08.

Yes, that's a long, long time after he was picked up.

Prosecutors insist that the delay won't hurt their case because experts can estimate the blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash. But the Tribune reported Wednesday that in a recent case a judge initially threw out a DUI charge against another Chicago cop, John Ardelean, because the judge said that expert analysis could be wrong. So, the delay could be an issue.

 Read the whole thing! This story has been in the news for a while. I want to stress that I'm not posting this to be anti-police.

1 dead in chain-reaction Dan Ryan crash

Tribune:

A 71-year-old Matteson man was killed in a chain-reaction crash this morning on the Dan Ryan Expressway at 79th Street on the South Side. No one else was hurt.

Killed was James Powell, of the 600 block of Highland Road in the south suburb, said State Police Master Sgt. Michelle Tufenkjian, correcting information regarding the victim's name.

Three out of the five southbound lanes of the expressway (Interstate Highway 90/94) were closed for three hours following the crash, which happened about 4:20 a.m.

2 Killed, 4 Injured in Dan Ryan Crashes

Two separate accidents near 73rd and 75th streets on the expressway as reported by FOX Chicago.

Bodies from fiery crash identified

From Yesterday's Chicago Breaking News, from the Tribune Company

Bodies from fiery crash identified
December 15, 2008 at 7:24 AM
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The bodies of two men who were burned beyond recognition in a fiery crash early Sunday morning on the South Side have been identified.

Vaughn Quinn, 22, of the 9600 block of South Charles Street in Chicago, and Emmanuel Rebb, 28, of the 800 block of Cherry Street in Hammond, Ind., were killed when their car struck a pole, according to the Cook County medical examiner's
office.

The accident happened about 4:15 a.m. Sunday in the 8700 block of South Michigan Avenue  on the South Side, police said. Both men died at the scene.

The victims' car was eastbound on 87th when it struck the pole on the northwest corner of 87th and Michigan, police said, adding that it was unclear what caused the crash.

--Kim Profant and Jeremy Gorner