Two killed, at least 21 injured after truck crashes into CTA Red Line station in Chinatown

Driver leaves hospital, was not charged as of Friday night

By Azam Ahmed, Andrew Wang and Robert Becker | Tribune reporters

April 26, 2008

An out-of-control semitrailer truck barreled off a Chicago expressway exit ramp during Friday's evening rush hour, careering through a busy intersection and slamming into a crowded escalator at the Cermak-Chinatown CTA train station.

Two people were killed and 21 others were transported to hospitals, authorities said.

Stunned witnesses watched the truck approach at near-highway speeds, tires screeching. Others never saw it coming but couldn't forget the sound of the collision.

"It sounded big, like a bomb," said Sohail Malik, a parking lot attendant who works across from the exit ramp. As the truck pounded the CTA overpass, it climbed several steps up an escalator leading to the Red Line Cermak "L" stop above, Malik said. Blood and shattered glass littered the sidewalk behind it.

Chicago Fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said 11 of the victims of the crash, which occurred just before 5:20 p.m., were in serious to critical condition. Eight were in fair to serious condition, and two more were in good condition.

Four people had to be cut out of the escalators, Orozco said.

The truck driver, identified as Don Wells, 51, was treated at Stroger Hospital, said hospital spokesman Sean Howard. Also treated at Stroger were a 26-year-old woman, a 14-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. The boy was released; the woman was listed in stable condition, and the girl had multiple injuries.Wells refused the doctor's advice and asked to be released, in part because he didn't have health insurance, Howard said. He limped out of the hospital, was handcuffed and escorted by police to a waiting police wagon. Police spokeswoman Monique Bond said he had not been charged.

Among the others injured, hospital officials listed two women, including a CTA employee, in fair condition at Northwestern Memorial Hospital; two more adults in good condition at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center; a man in good condition at Rush University Medical Center; and three children in fair condition at the University of Chicago Medical Center. One female and one male were taken to Provident Hospital in stable condition.

Fire officials said three victims were taken in serious to critical condition to Mt. Sinai Hospital Medical Center, but hospital officials refused to comment. The truck—operated by a company called the "Whiteline Express"—had been exiting a ramp to Cermak Road from the Dan Ryan Expressway when the crash occurred, said Chicago Police Sgt. Maurice McCaster of the police Major Accident Investigation Unit.

But instead of slowing to turn onto Cermak, the truck plowed through the intersection.

Maury Shiu, who was standing about 100 feet west of the station, turned around in time to see the truck hit the station. He said it was going relatively fast, and the driver appeared to have no control.

"He hit that with a good amount of force, crashed into that and even shook some of the structure of the facility," he said. "It was almost like something from the movies, you know."

One of the people killed by the truck was walking near the escalator; the other was heading either up the escalator or down the stairs next to it, McCaster said.

There were no indications of drugs or alcohol playing a role in the crash, he added. Investigators were interviewing Wells on Friday night. As the rescue unfolded, hundreds of people stood under the pagodas on Wentworth Avenue in Chinatown watching the rescue efforts less than a block away and talking on cell phones. Someone strung green tarps across a fence separating the Chinatown parking lot at Wentworth and Cermak from the CTA platform above.

On the other side of the tracks, children from the National Teachers Academy, 55 W. Cermak Rd., poured out of the school while adults flocked from nearby CHA complexes and storefront businesses. They pressed against police blockades, many of them asking about family members.

As a steady stream of emergency vehicles arrived at the scene, police blocked off Cermak Road to Wabash Avenue. More than a half-dozen fire trucks pulled up next to the station, and firefighters could be seen lowering victims from the station in gurneys.

Denise Bridges, whose 11-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son use the station to catch a train home, heard about the collision on the radio and rushed to the "L" platform to look for them.

Police told her that her children had been in the station when the truck slammed into it below them. Both were injured and taken to the hospital. Distraught, Bridges said she had not yet been able to talk to them. Some knew even less. Liz Vance, 28, has four children who attend the academy a block from the train station. They usually catch the train after school to head home to the South Side.