2 South Side women killed in Fri. crash, questions loom
CHINATOWN | 1 of 21 injured still in critical condition as cops question driver, try to learn cause of rush-hour tragedy
The two women killed when a semi-tractor trailer crashed into the Cermak/Chinatown Red Line L station were identified Saturday as two South Side women.
Eloisa Guerrero, 47, and Delisia Brown, 18, died in the 5:20 p.m. Friday accident, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
(Courtesy)
PHOTO GALLERY
CTA station crash
Chicago Police were still investigating the cause of the accident. The truck driver, identified as Don Wells, was in custody and has not yet been charged.
Wells has declined to take a urine test, which could identify whether he was taking drugs to stay awake.
Investigators have found no skid marks on the road, so it’s possible the driver was not braking, sources said.
Only one of the 21 people injured when a semitruck plowed into a Near South Side L station during rush hour Friday -- killing two people -- remained in critical condition late Friday night, authorities said.
The accident at the Cermak/Chinatown Red Line station forced the CTA to resort to shuttle buses. Commuters traveling southbound beyond Roosevelt Road had to take a shuttle to 35th Street -- one stop past the Cermak/Chinatown station. It was unclear when the station would reopen.
Witnesses Friday described a deafening screech of brakes, grinding metal and then a loud boom as the semi careened into a bus stop and "climbed the stairs" of the station's escalator and north stairwell, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford.
Moments later, firefighters, police and passers-by were frantically trying to help bloody victims lying amid shattered glass or pinned beneath the crumpled wreckage of the semi. Four children were among the injured, officials said.
The 51-year-old driver of the semi, Don Wells, who was among the injured, was able to walk away from the wreckage and was taken to Stroger Hospital. A blood test showed no signs of alcohol, but Wells refused to give a urine sample, said Stroger spokesman Sean Howard. Against doctors' advice, Wells refused all but a CAT scan, Howard said.
Shortly before 9 p.m., police led Wells away in handcuffs from Stroger for further questioning. Wells, his head down, refused to answer reporters' questions.
Police were still interviewing Wells late Friday but said it was too early to say what might have caused the crash.
"We're still investigating," said McCaster, of the major accidents unit. "We don't know if the truck had a mechanical problem or if there was a health problem."
Witnesses said the semi appeared to be traveling at least 50 mph as it barreled down the northbound Cermak exit ramp of the Dan Ryan Expy. moments before the crash.
"I saw it coming, and then I got out of the way," said one young man, who was waiting for a CTA bus at the station when he looked up to see the semitruck hurtling down the ramp straight at him.
The truck "hit everybody else. They all got hit. When I turned around, everybody was bleeding," said the man, who identified himself only as David.
Officials said the truck is operated by a company called Whiteline Express. However, the logo on the side of the white truck read "XTRA Lease." A phone message left with XTRA Lease of St. Louis, Mo., was not immediately returned. The company's Web site says it leases trucks to drivers on a short-term basis.
In the wake of the accident, engineers found no structural damage to the overhead L station, but the escalator sustained "very significant damage," said CTA President Ron Huberman. CTA officials said they briefly cut power to the Red Line between the Grand and 35th Street L stops, but no passengers were trapped in the subway and all trains were brought into stations before power was shut off.
Contributing: Stefano Esposito, AP
