According to Chicago police, a crash involving a CTA bus in Little Village on Saturday morning has resulted in one fatality and three hospitalizations.
Police reported that the bus was hit by a white Infinity sedan travelling westbound on the 4000 block of West 26th Street after running a red light at around 4 a.m.
According to police, a building was struck by the #53 bus as it was travelling in a northbound direction.
According to the police, the 18-year-old who was behind the wheel of the vehicle was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital for treatment but unfortunately passed away later. Meanwhile, his 21-year-old female companion was also taken to the same hospital, but thankfully, she was reported to be in good condition.
The hospital reported that both the female bus driver and a female passenger were in good condition after being taken there.
According to Amparo Galan, she hopped on the bus a few blocks away in order to make it to work on time.
“I was just closing my eyes when the accident occurred,” she recounted. “Suddenly, I was flung from my seat, and I crashed into the corner of the adjacent seat, hitting my ribs very hard.”
The building, along with the bus and vehicle involved in the crash, suffered extensive damage as seen in the video footage from the scene.
As the crew was working on removing the bus from the scene, the building suffered a partial collapse.
Check out this video of a CTA bus being pulled out from the site of a crash with another car that resulted in the bus colliding into a building.
As a portion of the building’s exterior collapsed, onlookers gazed in awe.
According to Nacho Hernandez, a resident of the area, most of the buildings in the vicinity are quite old and not in the best of conditions. He mentioned that due to their age, some of them have already collapsed. Therefore, he was surprised to see a car hitting one of the buildings and causing it to crumble down.
Passersby were stunned to see debris from the cars involved strewn across the busy intersection.
According to resident Alfredo Bahena, the force of the impact must have been immense, causing the object to fly across the street. As he pointed out, the object in question was an alternator that was dislodged from underneath the hood. The speed required to launch it such a distance indicates that whoever or whatever caused the impact must have been moving at a significant velocity.
Police have not issued any citations yet and there is no further information available at this time. The officers are currently assisting with traffic control while the demolition crews work on clearing up the debris.