Police: Woman on cell phone ran red light, hit police car

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A Rockdale officer's squad car was hit. | Submitted photo

Updated: March 19, 2012 10:07AM

Police in southwest suburban Rockdale say a woman was on her cell phone when she ran a red light and hit a police car — knocking the lieutenant driving it unconscious.

Lt. Don Pezzuto was driving east on Meadow Avenue when he crossed through the Larkin Avenue intersection and was struck by a northbound car driven by Mary F. Lorent, 64, of Tinley Park, about 12:55 p.m. Monday, Rockdale police Chief Robert Dykstra said.

Pezzuto was unresponsive but breathing when he was transported to Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center. He had been wearing a seat belt, and the vehicle’s air bag deployed.

A witness told police Lorent was talking on her cell phone “before, during and until shortly after the crash,” Dykstra said.

She initially said it was Pezzuto who went through the intersection, but his dashboard camera showed he had come to a complete stop and was hit seconds after his light turned green, police said.

Lorent initially declined medical treatment, but later complained of soreness and was taken to a hospital, where she admitted to police she was on her phone shortly before the accident, but said she had just hung up, he said.

She was ticketed for disregarding a traffic control device and failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

Pezzuto was treated for “bumps and bruises” and released from the hospital, Dykstra said.