Five Chicago officers struck by car during west side gathering
Five Chicago officers were hospitalized after a blue sedan drove through a west side crowd-control scene, with a gun found in the car and charges still pending.
Five Chicago police officers were struck by a car while dispersing a large gathering on the city’s west side, a confrontation that sent all five to local hospitals and drew a large police response to the Little Italy and Near West Side area.
The collision happened at about 3:20 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block of S. Loomis Street near Roosevelt Road, where CPD said officers were on foot trying to break up a large gathering. Police described the vehicle as a blue sedan traveling westbound in the eastbound lane before it drove over a curb, hit the officers and then slammed into a CPD squad car, a pole and a fence.
The driver, an 18-year-old man, was taken into custody and was not injured. CPD said a gun was found in the car. Charges were pending.
Police said the five officers were taken to local hospitals and were expected to be OK. FOX 32 Chicago reported that each of the officers was listed in fair condition. Their injuries were the immediate public-safety concern as officers, already on foot in a dense crowd, tried to manage a fast-moving and chaotic scene on S. Loomis Street.
The crash unfolded as dozens of officers converged on the Near West Side gathering, which NBC Chicago described as a massive teen gathering near Roosevelt and Loomis. The size of that response reflects a pattern that Chicago police have faced repeatedly late at night, when large unsupervised street gatherings can overwhelm officers and leave little room for error once vehicles, crowds and police lines mix.
About 30 minutes later, ABC7 Chicago reported that a 19-year-old man was shot in the 1100 block of West Roosevelt Road. Police did not say whether that shooting was connected to the gathering, but it added to the sense of instability around the area after the car struck the officers.
The episode left five officers under medical care, one young driver in custody and investigators sorting out a crash that began amid a crowd-control operation and ended with a gun recovered from the car.
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