Three people hospitalized after accident in Illinois Medical District

Three people were in serious to critical condition this morning after the vehicle in which they were riding lost control after it was being pursued by Chicago police.

The accident happened at about 5 a.m. on the 1700 block of Congress Parkway in the Illinois Medical District Neighborhood, said a spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department.

Three people from the car were taken to Stroger Hospital in serious to critical condition, the spokesman said.

Witnesses on the scene said the car, a grey Chevrolet Lumina, pulled
off the I-290, Eisenhower Expressway at Paulina Street and onto the
Congress Parkway at a high rate of speed. The witnesses, who were
working at a construction site in front of where the accident occurred,
said that the car was traveling at about 80 miles per hour.

The witnesses, who refused to give their names, said that soon after
the car pulled off the I-290, they saw police cars with their lights
activated in pursuit of the vehicle.

"It was about 45 seconds ahead of the police, they crashed and then
next thing you know about five to seven police cars come wheeling up,''
said one of the construction workers.

The car lost control on the wet pavement, careened off a concrete
construction barrier, ripped off about a half-block of a metal chain
link fence that blocked the the embankment leading down to the
expressway. The badly damaged car went off the road and hit several
trees.

The individuals were taken out of the car in stretchers and police also
removed a black bag containing electronic equipment from the car. The
witnesses said that one of the people in the car managed to get out of
the car and was apprehended by police about a half-block away.

Police on the scene refused to comment on the incident and Chicago
Police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez said he could not confirm
whether the car was being pursued.

-- Carlos Sadovi

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