Chicago police, fire and EMS responded about 5:54 p.m. to a crash involving an articulated CTA bus and six other vehicles. The bus came to a rest on a sidewalk opposite street side from a bike rack. The intersection of Michigan Avenue and Lake Street is one block north of Millennium Park.
Michigan Avenue was shut down and the intersection of Michigan Avenue and Lake Street was also shut down.
At least two people were seriously injured — the bus driver, and a woman who was trapped under the bus. She was walking in the crosswalk. Firefighters initially reported they were working two extrications. One extrication operation involved the woman stuck under the bus, and the second extrication may have involved mostly the stabilization, packaging and removal of the bus driver, who was thrown inside the bus. The bus driver was the other seriously injured crash victim.
The woman who was trapped under the bus was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. She was 51-years-old. Her identity was released Wednesday morning — Aimee Coath of Flossmoor.
Chicago Fire Department activated an EMS Plan 1 and then an EMS Plan 2 which brought a total of about 10 ambulances.
Two patients were triaged as Code Red — life-threatening injuries.
Seven patients were triaged as Code Yellow — stable, but under watch for possible worsening condition.
One patient was triaged as Code Green — walking or ambulatory
All patients were transported from the scene by about 6:26 p.m.
As the crash was investigated, police were determining the number vehicles involved in the crash with the bus — a range considered to be from three to six vehicles. No passengers were on board the bus when the crash occurred.
Witness report that the bus driver swerved to avoid a car that was disregarding a red light, but police cited the bus driver for running a red light and failing to exercise due care. The Route 148 Clarendon/Michigan Express bus (vehicle #4167) was eastbound on Lake Street just before 6:00 p.m. when it crashed with several other vehicles at North Michigan Avenue and East Lake Street.
The scene was open for traffic about 9:00 p.m. after firefighters stood by while police finished the on-scene accident investigation, and as the bus was pulled off of the sidewalk.
MORE: CTA driver, pedestrian in critical condition after bus swerves onto 205 N. Michigan Ave plaza. 9 others injured pic.twitter.com/UHnDxNO8Fy
— Ben Bradley (@BenBradleyABC7) June 2, 2015
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