One person was killed and two others injured when a cab struck a parking garage at Illinois Street and Columbus Drive, officials say.
The injured included the driver and a passenger, a woman who had to be cut out of the back seat, according to witnesses. As firefighters worked, a body lay under a sheet on the street near the cab.
Fire officials say two people were taken in serious to critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. A man was dead on the scene, they said.
The accident happened at about 8:45 a.m. at the entrance of the garage, officials say. Eastbound Illinois at Columbus is shut down.
Alex Perrin, 23, said he was walking to work at the Chicago Tribune when he saw the Checker cab "going fast" down Illinois. It appeared to cut off another cab, then swerved out of control and hit a man standing on the sidewalk on the north side of Illinois, he said.
The cab smashed into the side of a parking garage, east of P.J. Clarke’s at Columbus. The right side of the cab was angled up on the building.
Paramedics worked to extricate a woman from the back seat. The cab driver was able to get out on his own, Perrin said. When the driver stepped out, Perrin said he could see blood on the man's chest and arms.
“He just put his hands on his head,” Perrin said. “I still feel I’m in a surreal dream.” He called the scene “horrific.”
The intersection of Illinois and Columbus was the scene of a fatal accident in May when a tour bus making a turn struck Justyna Palka, a 26-year-old graphic artist. The driver was charged with driving under the influence.
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