Wrong Way Crash In Riverside Sends Driver To Hospital: Cops

La Grange IL

31 December, 2020

12:11 PM

Description

RIVERSIDE, IL — A wrong way driver struck another car on a snowy Tuesday night in Riverside, sending the other driver to the hospital, police said. The wrong way driver, a 26-year-old man from Burbank, passed field sobriety testing for alcohol. But officers suspected he was under the influence of drugs or prescription narcotics, according to a Riverside police news release. The officers said they detected the man had signs of impairment and certain markings on his body consistent with drug use. Police got the call about the wrong way driver shortly after 9 p.m. The driver was said to be heading north in the southbound lanes of First Avenue at Waubansee Road, just north of Ogden Avenue. Soon after, police got word of a head-on collision. The wrong way driver's Dodge pickup had struck a Chevrolet Cruze driven by a 25-year-old man from Chicago, police said. The 25-year-old's injuries were serious, but not life-threatening, according to the news release. He was taken to a local hospital. The 26-year-old wrong way driver was standing outside his car and was treated by paramedics, but refused to be taken to a hospital, police said. Police have submitted blood and urine samples of the wrong way driver to the state police crime lab and are waiting for results before any DUI charges are brought, the news release said. The police department said it did not immediately arrest the wrong way driver because he blew a zero on an alcohol breath test and claimed to be diabetic. Two witnesses told police they had been following the suspect's car since Summit. They had been calling 911 to report the man's erratic driving and that he was crossing into traffic for about 5 to 7 miles before the crash, police said. Police said they would release more information once the urine test results are known.