Dad charged in car-train crash
A 20-year-old Elgin man was cited with not having a valid driver’s license, consumption of alcohol by a minor, driving too fast for conditions, and operating an uninsured vehicle that caused bodily harm after he, his pregnant wife and two of their children were injured when their car collided with a Metra train in the northwest suburb Saturday night.
The accident happened about 9:45 p.m. at the Raymond Street crossing in Elgin. Pedro Bustamante, 20, his 19-year-old wife, their 5-year-old son and 14-month-old daughter, were all injured in the crash.
The little girl was flown by helicopter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. Elgin Police Cmdr. Glenn Theriault said Sunday afternoon that her condition had stabilized and she was expected to recover. The others were taken to Sherman and Provena Saint Joseph hospitals in Elgin. Bustamante’s wife is pregnant and she was being held at the hospital for observation, Theriault said.
Bustamante was treated and released from the hospital with minor injuries. All the citations he received are traffic-related misdemeanors.
Metra spokesman Tom Miller said the incident involved Train No. 2721, scheduled to arrive at the Chicago Street station in Elgin at 9:53 p.m. Both it and inbound Train 2724, scheduled to leave from Chicago Street at 10:10 p.m., were held in place for about two hours while the crash was being investigated.
As the first post-crash train — a westbound run from Chicago — crawled past the scene at 12:03 a.m., several dozen passengers pressed their faces against its windows to see what had held up their journey. What they saw under the intense glare from fire department light towers was a dark blue 1997 Lincoln Continental with its entire engine-area torn off and the entire windshield spider-webbed with fracture marks; the car’s engine, lying in the street about 20 feet away; and the car’s transmission, lying in the street about 10 feet away from the engine.
Nearby, the bottom half of a child’s car seat also sat on the pavement. Gately Stadium on Friday night, halting the SimeonMorgan Park football game and sending one person to a hospital with stab wounds.
A girl, 14, was charged with reckless conduct and aggravated assault to police for making a verbal threat, and a boy, 16, also was charged with disorderly conduct, all misdemeanors, according to police News Affairs. Both were charged as juveniles, and their names are not being released, police said.
Loud noises and flashes of light could be seen coming from the Morgan Park stands, according to a SunTimes reporter who was at the Friday game at 800 E. 103rd. A police source told the Sun-Times a large fight broke out at the game and said officers responded to reports of shots fired.
Eyewitnesses and a police source said shots were possibly fired. But the Chicago Police Office of News Affairs said police officials do not believe gunshots were fired.
A spokesman for the Chicago Fire Department said a male was stabbed and taken to Roseland Community Hospital about 8:43 p.m.