A 62-year-old woman was killed Monday, March 16 when the car she was driving south on the 1400 block of Desplaines Avenue was struck by an auto which had allegedly lost control while driving at a high rate of speed and then hitting another car.
Beverly Harrison, possibly of Louisiana, died in a local hospital of injuries from the crash.
According to Police Chief Tom Aftanas, at 3:14 p.m. officers responded to a call of a car on fire on the 1400 block of Desplaines Avenue. On route to the scene, they learned that there had been an accident with injuries.
Officers arrived to find one car on fire. While they worked to put out the fire, motorists assisted another officer in removing Harrison from the car. She was transported to the hospital but succumbed to her injuries there.
Aftanas said the victim was driving south on Desplaines Avenue when another vehicle, which witnesses said was traveling at a high rate of speed, tried to pass a car traveling north. The speeding vehicle hit another car and lost control, hitting the victim’s car head on.
It is believed that alcohol played a part in the accident, specifically related to the driver whose car struck Harrison’s, but that is still unconfirmed. If substantiated, charges will be made against the driver, who was left with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. A third party sustained non-life-threatening injuries as well.
“It’s tragic. It’s just horrible,” said Aftanas about the accident.
