UPDATED: 2 Nuns Among the Dead in 95th Street Crash

Caption: Redlight camera photo of the Ford F150 pickup traveling in the wrong direction westbound down 95th Street at Cicero Avenue seconds before it crashed into 11 cars. The Little Company of Mary sisters were in the first car in the center lane.

posted Oct. 6, 2014; updated at 4:45 p.m. with new information

Two nuns from Little Company of Mary Hospital are among the dead in Sunday’s horrific crash at 95th Street and Cicero Avenue in Oak Lawn.

Sister Jean Stickney, 86, and Sister Kab Kyoung Kim, 48, were at the head of the line in the center eastbound lane waiting for the traffic light to change when a Ford F150 pickup truck driving the wrong way down 95th Street crossed the intersection and crashed into the cars, Oak Lawn Division Chief Randy Palmer said.

The driver of the pickup truck was identified as Edward L. Carthans, 81, of Chicago’s Morgan Park community. Carthans and the nuns were pronounced dead at the scene, Palmer said at a press conference Monday morning.

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Eleven vehicles were involved in the bizarre accident. Oak Lawn Fire Chief George Sheets said 23 people were treated for injuries. Two victims were taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. The others were brought to Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park and Palos Community Hospital in Palos Heights.

While Oak Lawn firefighters and paramedics were anticipating a large traffic accident, Sheets described the scene was “unbelievable” in terms of the number of cars involved and the people who needed aid.

“When we arrived we found multiple victims in cars, outside of cars, under cars, inside of businesses and other places,” Sheets said. “A lot of us here are seasoned veterans in our profession. I think we can all say this is probably the most violent and bizarre accident that we’ve seen in our 30-plus years in the business.”

» READ: Little Company of Mary Mourns Loss of Sisters Killed In 95th Street Crash

According to Palmer, a motorist saw Carthans slumped over the wheel of his pickup traffic at 95th Street and Western Avenue moments before the impact and offered to park his car for him.

“The person didn’t know if [Carthans] was having a medical emergency or if he fell asleep,” Palmer said. “We don’t know how long the conversation was. At that point, [Carthans] said he was OK and drove away. The person did volunteer to park the vehicle for him if was in distress.”

There is no indication the individual who approached Carthans smelled alcohol on his breath or if he had a medical history that may have impaired his driving.

“Again, we’re waiting on toxicology from the medical examiner to see if any of that was a factor,” Palmer said. “It’s still very early in the investigation.”

All three victims died from multiple injuries sustained in the crash, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The medical examiner’s spokesman Frank Shuftan said it was standard procedure to perform toxicology and carbon monoxide testing in a fatal car crash, which could take six weeks or more.

“We want to make sure there wasn’t an emissions problem with the vehicle,” Shuftan said.

Lt. Peter Donovan, of the Evergreen Park Police Department, said Evergreen Park officers were dispatched to the intersection of Western Avenue and 95th Street around 4:19 p.m. Sunday for a report of a driver of a Ford F-150 pickup who appeared to be sleeping at the wheel.

Donovan said the truck was in the southbound lane of traffic at Western Avenue.

“We got there within a minute,” Donovan said. “We checked from Western Avenue in front of Evergreen Park Plaza to 99th Street, and from Western to 95th and Homan Avenue.”

Donovan said officers checked about 1.5 miles of roadway but were unable to locate the truck.

Oak Lawn police are putting together a timeline of events leading up to the crash. Carthans was the only passenger in the truck.

“I do know that investigators have spoken to his family,” Palmer said. “We are tracking down his prior actions before the accident. We’re working on that right now.”

Carthans’ neighbors in Morgan Park described him as a good neighbor.

“We’re all shocked at the loss,” a resident told the Chicago Tribune.

Police said Carthans continued driving westbound down 95th Street where he hit three cars in traffic at 95th Street and Keeler. Carthans allegedly fled the Keeler accident scene at a high rate of speed and was in the wrong lane when he drove into the other cars around 4:27 p.m. Sunday.

Oak Lawn Police Sgt. Bob Brewer, of the accident reconstruction unit, said investigators will attempt to determine how fast the truck was moving upon the moment of impact.

“We already mapped the position of the vehicles at their final resting place on the scene,” Brewer said. “We’re in contract with the medical examiner so we can obtain more information about the driver as it unfolds. It’s going to be handled expeditiously, we’re not going to leave any stone unturned.

Brewer would not speculate at how fast he thought the truck was traveling.

“I’m not going to speculate on [the] speed [of the truck],” he added. “We’re going to do it from scientific methods.”

Palmer said that accident scene shocked the most seasoned police investigators.

“We have trained for this,” Palmer added. “It played out very well for us trying to coordinate and get those injured to the hospitals. Everything went as we would have wanted. It was a hectic scene but a controlled hectic scene. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families.”

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