5 Women From Same Family Hurt In Crash On Tri-State In Deerfield

DEERFIELD, IL — Five women from the same family were taken to area hospitals Wednesday after a possible hit-and-run crash on the Tri-State Tollway. According to the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Department, all five were riding together around 5:45 p.m. on eastbound Interstate 94 when their car smashed into the side of the tollway between Half Day Road and Duffy Lane.

Rush-hour traffic was halted in all but one lane and a Mitsubishi sedan was severely damaged, but there were no life-threatening injuries from the crash. Police are investigating the incident as a possible hit-and-run.

One person was unconscious and laying in the roadway in serious condition when rescue crews arrived, according to Deputy Chief Ray Larson, but her condition improved during transport. The other four suffered minor injuries and were taken to Glenbrook, Highland Park and Lutheran General Hospital. Four ambulances showed up, two from Deerfield-Bannockburn, one from Lincolnshire-Riverwoods and one from Lake Forest, according to Larson.

Witness Julia Frank, of Lake Bluff, told Patch the women were three generations of the same family who had recently arrived from Malaysia, describing them all as "very, very sweet." After realizing there had been an accident in front of her on her way home from work, she pulled in front of a tractor-trailer that had stopped and ran over to the crushed car.

"I pried open the back door and I see grandma," Frank said. "She clang onto me like I was an angel, I have never seen someone look so desperate for help."

After helping her out of the car, Frank noticed the unconscious woman and ran over to help. The other occupants suffered dizziness and minor cuts and bruises, she said.

Frank said she traveled to the hospital with the youngest of the women, a teenager who was helping translate for her older relatives, and wound up spending six hours with her. Frank said the teen asked her to come along because the family was being split up between three hospitals.

"They believe the mother fell out of the car while it was spinning out," Frank said. "Possibly because she had opened the door handle while she was trying to hold on."

The precise cause of the crash was not immediately known, but Frank suspected the car spun out because of uneven lanes caused by construction, which make changing lanes especially difficult due to differing levels of asphalt and no signage. She said the driver described being hit from behind and had noticed being tailgated shortly before trying to change lanes and spinning out.

Fire crews turned over responsibility for the crash site to Illinois State Police. A spokesperson said preliminary information indicates another car was involved in the crash. It is being investigating as a hit-and-run, but information about the other vehicle was not immediately known. Frank said the tractor-trailer that stopped behind the scene had a dashcam that may have captured video of the incident.