2 Women Killed In Crash With Sheriff's Office Squad Car In Niles

NILES, IL — Two women were killed Thursday morning in Niles when their vehicle was struck by a Cook County Sheriff's Office squad car, police said. Shortly after 5:45 a.m., police were called to the scene of the crash at the intersection of Dempster Street and Harlem Avenue, where they found a marked car from the sheriff's office and a Honda Accord, according to Niles police.

Police said the squad car was headed east on Dempster when it struck the southbound Honda in the intersection. Police said weather may have been a factor in the crash.

Niles firefighters extricated the two women from the Honda and took them to Lutheran General Hospital, where they were pronounced dead around 6:30 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Ludwika Moskal, 69, of Norridge, was identified as the driver. Helena Lukasik, 64, of the nearby Dunning neighborhood of Chicago, was her passenger, police said.

The two women were sisters who had been on their way home from working the night shift for a cleaning company at Evanston Hospital, Moskal's son told the Chicago Tribune.

The Cook County sheriff's police officer of the squad car, a 47-year-old man, was also taken to Lutheran General, according to police. His injuries were not considered life threatening.

The officer was on-duty but not responding to a call at the time of the crash, according to the sheriff's office, which said every traffic crash involving an employee is reviewed internally.

The intersection of Dempster and Harlem at the border of Niles and Morton Grove was closed for about five hours as members of the multi-agency Major Crash Assistance Team investigated how the crash occurred.

Images from news helicopters showed the sheriff's office squad car with damage to its front end. The heavily damaged gray Honda appeared to have come to a stop about 10 yards away.