High-Speed Chicago Crash Kills Two, Injures Five

Two people were killed and five others were injured in a two-vehicle crash Wednesday night in the Scottsdale neighborhood on the Far South Side, according to Chicago police.

An 86-year-old man in a tan Ford Explorer and a 53-year-old woman in a white Lincoln Aviator were pronounced dead at local hospitals following the crash, which also left a 6-year-old boy injured, police said. Investigators issued citations to the 25-year-old woman who had been driving the Aviator “at a high rate of speed” prior to the collision, according to a preliminary statement from police.

The Cook County medical examiner’s office Thursday morning said the 53-year-old woman had been identified as Anna Zendejo of Aurora. The 86-year-old had not yet been identified, it said.

About 9:25 p.m. the man was driving his Explorer north in the 8300 block of South Pulaski Road and had been attempting to turn left onto 85th Street, police said. The Aviator was traveling south on Pulaski when it struck the passenger side of the Explorer.

The crash prompted an EMS Plan 1 from the Chicago Fire Department, which launches at least five ambulances.

Along with the 25-year-old driver who had “unspecified injuries,” there were five passengers in the Aviator, including Zendejo. A boy, 6, was taken to Comer Childrens Hospital with minor injuries, police said. A 20-year-old man had a fractured arm and a 32-year-old man and a 19-year-old man each suffered “minor injuries,” all three were treated at a local hospital, officials said.

Police spokeswoman Sally Bown said the driver of the Lincoln Aviator was issued a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

“The report does not indicate drugs or alcohol were involved,” Bown wrote in an email.

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