Palatine police and firefighter/paramedics responded at 8:00 p.m. Monday to a car vs. pedestrian accident at Rand Road and Ports O Call Drive.
Police arrived first on the scene and found Palatine resident Hristo Nanev, 57, with serious injuries. Police immediately requested that paramedics expedite to the scene. Nanev was apparently walking in the 1300 block of North Rand Road about 8 p.m. when he crossed the curb area from the north parkway and stepped into the path of a northwestbound 1995 Honda Accord driven by a 49-year-old Palatine woman. The vehicle was reported to be in the inside lane of Rand Road when Nanev, who was wearing dark clothing, was struck.
There is no crosswalk at the site of the accident scene.
Palatine police immediately blocked northwestbound Rand Road at the frontage road just west of Route 53. The stretch of road was closed until about 11:00 p.m. Monday.
Palatine Fire Department committed a battalion chief, paramedic rescue-ambulance, rescue squad and fire engine to the scene. The rescue squad crew was committed to advanced life support with the ambulance crew. Hristo Nanev was treated at the scene by the Palatine Fire Department then transported to Level I Trauma Center Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was listed in critical condition. The engine crew assisted police officers with accident scene management and presumably lighting for the accident scene.
No charges are expected against the driver of the Honda Accord. The stretch of Rand Road all the way to Dundee Road is commonly crossed by pedestrians who don’t use crosswalks and wear dark clothing. Many of the pedestrians stand or walk along the center line and are at risk serious injury or death almost daily.
I wonder why they all wear dark clothing?