One killed, 2 seriously injured after cab strikes building in Streeterville
BY MITCH DUDEK Staff Reporter June 27, 2011 9:42AM
A taxi driver was issued two citations after crashing into a building at Illinois and Columbus, killing a pedestrian. | John H. White~Sun-Times
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Updated: June 27, 2011 8:44PM
A 71-year-old taxi driver killed a pedestrian and seriously injured his passenger Monday morning when he drove off a Streeterville road and crashed into a parking garage. Yao Ofori headed east on the 300 block of East Illinois, lost control and struck a man on the sidewalk at 8:57 a.m. before crashing into the garage. The pedestrian, a man in his 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. The man’s identification was being withheld pending family notification. Firefighters extricated a female passenger from the car who was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition. The taxi driver suffered non-life-threatening cuts and abrasions. Ofori, of the South Side, was cited for driving too fast for conditions and failure to exercise due care with a pedestrian in the roadway, according to police spokesman Veejay Zala. “The investigation is closed,” Zala said. “But I don’t have any idea as to what caused him to veer off the road.” Ofori has at least two previous moving violations on his record: an improper turn on New Year’s Eve 2007 and improper lane usage on January 4, 2010. But Ofori’s Illinois driver’s license was in “good standing,” a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office said. “Cab drivers drive like it’s the Indy 500 down here,” said Darren Unrein, wine manager at UnCork-It, just down the block from the crash. “You see them cutting people off, fighting for fares from tourists, you hear the screeching tires...it’s terrible and it happens all the time. I’m surprised I haven’t seen more accidents in this area.” Another fatal accident happened a few yards from Monday’s crash site in May when a tour bus driver, who was charged with driving under the influence, struck a 26-year-old woman. Javier Ortiz, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, which regulates taxis, referred inquiries to a spokesperson who was not available.
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