Man cited with DUI in fatal crash with CTA bus, beer truck

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Updated: March 22, 2012 8:17AM

A Blue Island man was allegedly intoxicated when he caused a chain-reaction crash that fatally pinned a worker unloading a beer truck against a CTA bus Monday afternoon on the South Side.

Walter Thompson, 30, allegedly tried to run away from the wreck after the 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe he was driving crashed in the 1400 block of West 115th Street about 3 p.m., according to police News Affairs. He was later arrested at 118th Street and Ashland Avenue and taken to MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island in “stable” condition.

Thompson, of the 12900 block of Page Court in Blue Island, was cited for DUI, damaging city property, driving with a revoked license and three counts of leaving the scene of an accident, according to police News Affairs.

One man was killed and four other people were hurt during the chain-reaction crash that sent five vehicles careening into each other and nearby pedestrians, police said. Police claim Thompson was driving the Santa Fe westbound at a high rate of speed when it hit a 1997 Ford Aerostar minivan, which then struck a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville. The Santa Fe then wedged itself between two other vehicles -- a CTA bus that had stopped to unload passengers, and a beer truck being unloaded by a worker, police said.

The worker -- identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office as 45-year-old Charles Kimbrough -- was pinned between the beer truck and the CTA bus, police said.

Kimbrough, of the 14000 bock of South LaSalle Street in Riverdale, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead at 3:53 p.m., according to the medical examiner’s office.

The beer truck also lurched forward during the crash and struck a second pedestrian, a 64-year-old man who was taken to Christ Hospital in “stable” condition, police said.

The 66-year-old man driving the Aerostar, the 32-year-old man driving the CTA bus and a passenger on the bus were also injured, police said. They were all taken to Roseland Community Hospital in “stable” condition.

Thompson may face additional charges pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation by the police Major Accident Investigation Unit, police said.