Wrong-way, 3-vehicle collision leaves 2 dead, 2 injured on Dan Ryan Expressway, state police say
Two people were killed and two others were injured Saturday morning when a vehicle was traveling the wrong way on the Dan Ryan Expressway. It was at least the second fatal wrong-way crash along that stretch of the Dan Ryan in Englewood in about three months.
Illinois State Police responded to Interstate 94 south, north of 63rd Street, to investigate the crash about 10:55 a.m., according to a news release from the agency, sent via email about 24 hours after the collision.
For an unknown reason, it said, the driver of a gold 2014 Chevrolet Equinox was traveling north in the southbound lanes. The Equinox then struck a red 2017 Freightliner tractor-trailer head-on. The impact of the initial crash then caused the Equinox to continue on into the path of a gray 2006 Nissan Sentra, which it also struck.
A woman in the Sentra suffered life-threatening injuries and she was taken to an area hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 11:42 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
The medical examiner’s office on Sunday said she had been identified as Teresa Sandoval, 66, of the 3800 block of South Aberdeen Street. Francisco Sandoval, also 66 and who had been driving the Sentra, suffered injuries that were not considered life-threatening, officials said.
The Chevrolet was driven by a 53-year-old man from Naperville, according to state police, and he also was injured and taken to a hospital, where he died. The medical examiner’s office said his name was not being released pending notification of his next of kin.
The driver of the semi, a 44-year-old man from Highland, Indiana, was not injured.
All local southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan, as well as numerous on- and off-ramps, were closed for nearly eight hours for the investigation, officials said.
In early February, two people were killed during another wrong-way crash not far from Saturday’s collision site on the Dan Ryan. A 17-year-old boy and a 35-year-old man died in that crash, apparently the result of a wrong-way driver hitting a light pole. A 16-year-old boy also was seriously hurt.
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