STORY YOUMISSED
Chicago traffic specialist units are searching for a driver who fled on foot after slamming a truck into a fully operational Chicago Transit Authority bus in West Town early Friday morning.
The multi-vehicle collision occurred at approximately 1:48 a.m. within the 400 block of North Western Avenue.
According to investigative data from the Chicago Police Department, a gray truck was traveling westbound on Grand Avenue at a high rate of speed just before the crash.
The driver of the gray truck entered the intersection and struck the side of the CTA transit bus as it traveled along its designated North Side route.
Immediately following the heavy impact, the driver of the truck accelerated away from the shattered glass and debris without stopping to check on the welfare of the occupants.
Patrol officers responding to the emergency call discovered the suspect’s gray truck parked and completely unoccupied a short distance away from the crash site.
The fleeing motorist abandoned the heavily damaged vehicle on a nearby side street to evade arriving law enforcement units.
Emergency medical technicians arrived on the Western Avenue block to evaluate multiple transit passengers who were riding the bus during the late-night transit run.
Paramedics ultimately transported three injured bus passengers to a regional hospital for further medical evaluation.
Hospital staff treated all three victims for minor physical injuries and listed them in good condition on Friday morning.
Area 3 detectives and traffic crash investigators spent the early dawn hours mapping out the intersection and clearing the disabled transit bus from the active roadway.
Local business owners near the intersection of Western and Grand avenues expressed immediate concern regarding the frequency of commercial speeding along the transit corridors.
Neighborhood safety groups are currently urging drivers to maintain extreme caution during late-night hours when visibility is reduced and traffic signals change frequency.
The Chicago Police Department has taken possession of the abandoned gray truck to process the interior cabin for fingerprints, registration documents, and biometric evidence.
Investigators are also pulling digital video feeds from the CTA bus camera systems and nearby traffic management arrays to obtain a physical description of the driver.
No suspects have been taken into custody, and authorities have not yet released the name of the individual to whom the abandoned truck is registered.
Officials request that any motorist who witnessed the gray truck traveling along Grand Avenue around 1:45 a.m. call the Major Accidents Investigation Unit at (312) 745-4521.
