Concrete falls, hits cars in Rogers Park
Megan Mateo, still a bit dazed from being jolted awake by a crashing sound, had an odd reaction when she looked out her window early Thursday to find two cars had been crushed by chunks of concrete that had fallen from an embankment along the Red Line in Rogers Park.
“I kind of laughed it off at first as one of those crazy things that happened to someone else’s car, and then my boyfriend was like, ‘That’s our car,’” said Mateo, 26.
Her older model Mazda sedan was totaled. The car in front of hers, a Mazda SUV, also sustained heavy damage.
“And then I was still laughing, because I was kind of in shock,” said Mateo, who works in the food service industry.
“We’re just fortunate that we weren’t inside when it happened,” she said of herself, her boyfriend and their 5-year-old son.
“We don’t really come from money and it’s not like we lost a Ferrari, so throw it on the pile of stuff going on in our lives . . . I am pregnant and expecting next month,” she said.
The concrete fell on the two cars about 4:45 a.m. in the 7100 block of North Glenwood, between the Red Line’s Morse and Jarvis stations, according to Chicago police.
The chunks were part of a 102-year-old retaining wall along an earthen embankment, the CTA said in a statement. There was no structural damage to the tracks.
“Though there is no indication of any larger deterioration issues, out of an abundance of caution crews are performing a complete inspection of the area and will perform other repairs as needed,” the CTA said.
No injuries were reported.
Larry Evans, 38, owns the other car. “I could have been inside,” said Evans, who could hardly believe his eyes at 6:20 a.m. as he walked to his car to go to work.
Both Evans and Mateo hope the CTA picks up the tab for damages.