SUV slams into daycare center; child injured
WBBM
By Jermont Terry
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CHICAGO (WBBM) — A driver plowed into a daycare center on Chicago’s Southwest Side Tuesday afternoon.
Police said it all started with a traffic accident. A silver Honda sport-utility vehicle was headed east on 84th Place when it collided with a black Nissan sedan headed south on Kedzie Avenue.
After the crash, the Honda SUV went off the road and smashed right into the New Knowledge Learning Center, at 8440 S. Kedzie Ave. in the Ashburn neighborhood while children were inside. A child was injured and had to go to the hospital.
It was quite the scare when the SUV hit the building — not only for the children and the workers inside the building at the time, but of course, for the parents who got phone calls and realized that something monumentally bad had happened.
The majority of children were in a different part of the building at the time, and a door was open so parents could pick them up after getting frantic calls. Parents rushed with emotion to the daycare after receiving word that a car had careened into the building.
It was not a call that any parent would want, especially when parents got to the scene and saw the magnitude of what happened.
Janet Pineda has not one, but three kids at the daycare — the youngest of them 4 months old. She said she rushed to the scene, and explained the range of emotions she had when she saw the building — but also realized her children were safe.
“I have three babies in the car. Imagine three babies in daycare. First thing in my mind is them. I come running, you know?” she said. “Man, I’m never going to leave them out of my sight, nothing. God is big!”
Sources confirmed a child was taken to the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, and an adult was taken to OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park.
A 5-year-old girl was taken to the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital with a laceration to her head, police said. A witness said there was a child on a couch who was knocked off when the SUV came into the building.
Police said the driver of the Honda SUV, a 67-year-old man, was taken to OSF Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Evergreen Park in good condition for observation. He was conscious, but a little out of it after the airbag deployed.
The driver of the Nissan was taken to the same hospital, also in good condition for observation.
Citations were pending late Tuesday. The police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating.
Kedzie Avenue was backed up tremendously at 84th Street as police and fire crews remained at the scene.
Meanwhile, the daycare building did not appear to be structurally sound, and crews were trying to figure out how to remove the car and get everyone safely out as well.
The awning over the daycare says it offers preschool and kindergarten classes, phonics, gymnastics, reading and math, field trips, foreign language, and computers and science.
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