The morning commute in Oak Park devolved into chaos Friday morning when a motorist speeding on Harlem Avenue crashed into several vehicles including a Pace bus, sending 11 people to area hospitals, village officials said.
They said the driver of the vehicle that careened into the other vehicles subsequently died of a self-inflicted gunshot.
According to a report from Dan Yopchick, Oak Park’s chief communications officer, a man was driving a Toyota 4Runner southbound on Harlem Avenue at 8:56 a.m. Friday morning when he ran through a red light at Lake Street. He’d been spotted by River Forest Police Department cameras shortly before that, driving at a high rate of speed.
The man swerved to miss a pedestrian who was using the walkway to cross Harlem at Lake Street, Yopchick said. He drove into another lane and hit the bus, causing a chain reaction crash that involved four vehicles in all, including the Toyota and the bus, according to police.
Several witnesses called 911. Another witness went to check on the driver of the Toyota, and then heard a gunshot when walking away from the vehicle, the report stated. Responding police found the driver had shot himself in the head, Yopchick said. A gun was found on the floorboard of the vehicle.
The man was was pronounced dead at 9:13 a.m. by a doctor from Loyola University Medical Center.
Yopchick said 14 people sustained injuries and 11 people were taken to area hospitals Rush Oak Park, Loyola University Medical Center, MacNeal Hospital and Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, while three people were treated at the scene and refused further medical treatment. No serious injuries have been reported by any of the 14 people, he said.
Joseph Johnston, a Forest Park resident who was in the area when the crash happened, said he saw officials pull a body out of a white vehicle that was eventually towed away.
He said he was on a different Pace bus that was held up in traffic related to the crash and investigation, and said that he and other passengers on the bus had to disembark and walk to their destinations.
River Forest and Forest Park police departments helped clear the scene and control traffic. The streets reopened around 2 p.m., officials said.