Teens In Stolen SUV Trigger 6-Car Chain-Reaction Rollover Crash

NILES, IL — A trio of teens in a stolen car ran a stop sign Thursday morning in Niles, triggering a six-car rollover crash that sent five people to the hospital, police said. Officers were called around 10:07 a.m. to the intersection of Oconto Avenue and Oakton Street, where they learned the chain reaction crash started when a maroon Volkswagen SUV reported stolen from Chicago ignored a stop sign heading as it headed north on Oconto.

The Volkswagon was left resting on its side with the three teenagers still inside, according to police. Bystanders worked together to push it back on its tires. The three occupants were taken into custody pending further investigation and brought to the hospital for treatment for injuries from the crash.

The driver, a 17-year-old Franklin Park boy, was listed in critical but stable condition at Lutheran General Hospital, police said. The two passengers, a 17-year-old Chicago girl and a 16-year-old Schiller Park boy, were taken to Glenbrook Hospital and listed in good and stable condition.

After the stolen SUV struck a Chrysler driven by a 69-year-old Skokie man, four other cars were involved in the crash, police said.

The other vehicles included a 57-year-old Elk Grove Village man in a Chevy Trailblazer, a Mercury Grand Marquis driven by a 67-year-old Chicago man, a Ford tow-truck driven by a 49-year-old Evanston man and a 33-year-old Park Ridge man driving a Mercedes, according to Sgt. Tony Scipione.

Two of the drivers were taken to area hospitals after the crash. No charges or citations have been filed as of Thursday afternoon pending further investigation of the incident. Police have had not immediately determined where and when the Volkswagen was stolen, Scipione said.

Witnesses told the Niles Journal of smoke or steam emanating from the Volkswagen as it lay on its side, and the Park Ridge man described said he was lucky not to suffer serious injuries, telling the Journal the crash was "like a bomb going off."

The stolen car crossed into four lanes of eastbound and westbound traffic on Oakton Street one block west of Harlem Avenue. Other vehicles have no stop sign at the site of the crash.