Chaos unfolded in Jefferson Park, Chicago, late Saturday night after a CTA bus, with no passengers aboard, crashed into a residential building. The collision, set into motion by a black sedan that struck the bus after running a stop sign, resulted in serious property damage and left the bus driver hospitalized.
Officials reported that at around 10:45 p.m., the bus was heading north on North Central Avenue when its front driver's side was hit by the sedan speeding east on West Catalpa Avenue. The force of the impact sent the bus careening into a parked car, through a fence, and finally, into the side of a home in the 5500 block of N. Central Ave, per WGN-TV. The perpetrator, responsible for the initial collision, fled before authorities arrived at the scene.
The 46-year-old female bus driver sustained a head laceration in the incident and was promptly taken by the Chicago Fire Department to an area hospital. Her condition was described as fair, police told ABC 7 Chicago. In the wake of the crash, five residents of the damaged building were forced to find alternative lodging, their homes being left structurally compromised as assessed by responders.
While the search for the hit-and-run driver continues, no arrests have been made at this point, according to the authorities. The CTA has not issued any statement on the accident at the time of writing. However, local residents and the broader community are left grappling with the aftermath of what might seem like a fleeting instance of reckless driving, but whose impact resonates through the lives shaken, and the property damaged, in its wake.
