21 year old driving too fast in his Mercedes...
Des Plaines crash kills 4 people — 3 from Arlington Heights family - Chicago Tribune
Des Plaines crash kills 4 people — 3 from Arlington Heights family - Chicago Tribune
Three members of an Arlington Heights family and a Des Plaines man were killed in a three-car crash in Des Plaines on Thursday evening, police in the northwest suburb said.
Three others were injured, police said.
A Mercedes was driving at a "high rate of speed" west in the 100 block of East Northwest Highway around 8:55 p.m. when it slammed into a Chevrolet Impala that was turning into a parking lot from the eastbound lanes of Northwest Highway, Des Plaines police said.
The Impala was pushed into a Toyota Highlander that was driving east, police said.
The three people in the Impala, all related, were pronounced dead at hospitals. The driver of the Mercedes also was pronounced dead.
Those killed in the crash were identified as Anita Crawford, 50; Kevin Crawford, 52; and Kirsten Crawford, 20, the Cook County medical examiner's office said. All lived in Arlington Heights, according to the office. Piotr Rog, 21, of Des Plaines, also was pronounced dead. A passenger in the Mercedes was taken in critical condition to Lutheran General Hospital. Two people in the Toyota were treated at the scene for minor injuries.
On Friday, Anita Crawford's father, Erwin Schmidt, said he was devastated after police arrived at his Mount Prospect home Thursday night to tell him and his wife, Ursel, of the fatal crash that killed his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter — a student at Harper College.
Schmidt said the couple's other two children, his 15-year-old granddaughter, who is a sophomore at Prospect High School, and his 9-year-old grandson, a student at Windsor Elementary School in Arlington Heights, now are staying with him and his wife.
"We've got support from family and neighbors," Schmidt said.
According to a neighbor, the Crawfords lived along Forrest Avenue in Arlington Heights for at least 15 years.
"They were terrific neighbors," said Carl Bjorndahl, who lives down the block from the Crawford home.
On Friday morning, all was quiet at the Crawford's tidy, red brick ranch on south Forrest Avenue, with a decorative sign on the front door proclaiming, "Believe in Miracles."
Bjorndahl remembered Kevin Crawford shoveling the snow and mowing the lawn for older neighbors.
He said the Crawfords last fall had visited Door County in Wisconsin and while there took a picture of a home that Bjorndahl and his family had once owned for many years. After the vacation, they shared the photo with the Bjorndahls.
"This is such a tragedy," Bjorndahl said.
Northwest Highway was shut down for several hours as the crash was investigated.