By Chris Fusco
The Chicago Sun-Times
Copyright 2006 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
A car-vs.-ambulance crash near a gas station in Mount Greenwood on Sunday afternoon looked horrific, but it caused no life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
In all, seven people were hurt.
The wreck occurred at 3:13 p.m. in the Southwest Side neighborhood when a Fire Department ambulance taking a 16-year-old patient to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn collided with a gray Toyota sedan at the intersection of 111th and South Talman.
Besides the 16-year-old, paramedics and a Chicago Police officer were among those aboard the westbound ambulance when the northbound Toyota hit it, authorities said.
The police officer had been assisting paramedics in response to the medical emergency, which did not involve any crime.
The ambulance took out a traffic pole before coming to rest on its side near the Kean gas station along 111th. Firefighters made sure that fuel that had spilled from the ambulance did not ignite.
All seven people involved in the crash — five in the ambulance and two in the Toyota — were taken either to Christ, Stroger or Mount Sinai hospitals, the Fire Department reported.
Only one of the victims was expected to stay overnight.
The driver of the Toyota, a 33-year-old, was issued traffic citations stemming from the driver’s failure to yield to the ambulance, which had its lights and siren on, police said.