By Andrew Herrmann and Lauren Guy
Chicago Sun Times
CHICAGO — Edwin Martinez was in front of his Northwest Side home Friday morning, warming up his motorcycle, when he heard an ambulance blaring its siren and honking its horn — a common event with Our Lady of Resurrection Medical Center just down the street.
But the common turned terrible when the Chicago Fire Department ambulance and a sedan carrying a mother and two children collided in the intersection of Addison and Menard, flipping the woman’s car.
“I rushed over here and I started to pull the little girl from the back seat of the car,’' Martinez said at the scene. “The mother was on her hands and knees screaming, ‘God please don’t take my daughter from me’ '' in Spanish.
Police said the woman, Antonia Trujillo-Rojas, was driving southbound on Menard and the ambulance was heading east on Addison to the medical center at 5645 W. Addison.
The crash flipped the 34-year-old woman’s car, which then hit another car traveling north on Menard. Police were looking into witness accounts that a third automobile smashed into that pile but that the driver drove away.
The two children were taken to Children’s Memorial Hospital in serious condition; Trujillo-Rojas was taken in serious condition to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, said fire department spokeswoman Eve Rodriguez.
In all, eight people were taken to area hospitals, including two passengers in the ambulance and two ambulance personnel.
Trujillo-Rojas, of the 5900 block of west Waveland, was cited with failure to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving without a license and damage to city property, said Sgt. Antoinette Ursitti, a police spokeswoman.
Neighbors of Trujillo-Rojas described her as an exceptional mother of four.
“She’s a great mom . . . never lets her children run around,’' said neighbor Alexandria Sokolowski. “You always see her outside with them.’'
The mother’s car was upside down when police arrived after the accident, its trunk open and its windows scattered in pieces around the crash site. The front of the ambulance was crumpled.
Resurrection hospital officials would not say why the two people were being originally transported to the hospital but said they were treated for minor injuries connected to the accident and released Friday afternoon.
A woman from the second vehicle was taken to West Suburban Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, a spokesman said.
Martinez said when he ran to the scene, “The guys from the ambulance were all shook up and didn’t know what to do. They were just freaking out.”