A minivan tore through a window and barreled roughly 20 feet into an Advocate Medical Group outpatient facility in Glenview on Tuesday, injuring one person inside with what officials believe was flying debris. Three other people were evaluated at the scene but did not need to go to the hospital, and the cause of the crash remained unclear.
The crash happened in the 1400 block of Waukegan Road, according to CBS News Chicago, at the Advocate Medical Group Outpatient Center, a facility that houses multiple clinical practices including Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Neuromuscular Neurology, and Obstetrics & Gynecology, according to Advocate Health Care. Glenview Fire Department Deputy Chief Gary Schumacher said the minivan ended up about 20 feet inside the building.
One Person Hospitalized, Others Evaluated on Scene
The person who was hurt was taken to the hospital with injuries possibly caused by flying debris, Schumacher said. The window the minivan crashed through will need to be replaced, and some interior walls in the medical facility will also need repair, though the crash caused no structural damage to the building overall.
Schumacher offered a stark assessment of how much worse the outcome could have been. “Very lucky that there weren't people sitting in the waiting area,” he said, according to the same report. The cause of the crash remained unclear, leaving open the possibility of pedal misapplication, a medical emergency, or mechanical failure as investigators continue looking into what happened.
Second Glenview Storefront Crash in a Month
This is not the first time a vehicle has plowed into a Glenview business in recent weeks. Just a month earlier, on August 6, a driver crashed into MB Spa Nails at 2699 Shermer Road after mistakenly hitting the accelerator instead of the brake, sending three employees to the hospital with stress-related symptoms, Hoodline previously reported. Building inspectors cleared that nail salon's structure without finding major structural damage, per Patch's coverage of the incident.
Storefront vehicle intrusions like these are far from rare nationally. The Storefront Safety Council estimates that roughly 100 vehicle-into-building crashes happen every day across the United States, causing an estimated 16,000 injuries and 2,600 deaths annually, with commercial strip malls and medical or retail sites accounting for over a third of those locations. The organization's analysis of more than 29,000 such incidents found that operator error and pedal misapplication are the two most common causes, followed by DUI and traffic accidents.
Waukegan Road Has Seen Other Recent Crashes
Waukegan Road has been the site of other serious traffic incidents recently. On July 23, emergency crews responded to a two-vehicle collision between a Tesla and a Subaru at Waukegan Road and Lake Avenue, prompting an urgent Village of Glenview traffic alert and a temporary shutdown of the roadway, according to the Journal & Topics.
Under Illinois law, drivers are required to reduce speed to avoid colliding with people or property regardless of the posted limit, with violations charged as petty offenses carrying fines up to $1,000. Separately, Village of Glenview code enforcement can require Inspectional Services Division officers to evaluate damaged commercial properties for structural safety, and can issue fines up to $1,000 per day if hazards go unaddressed.
Safety advocates point to bollards — vertical steel barriers installed along sidewalks or parking spots — as the primary physical defense against storefront crashes, since they can stop a moving vehicle before it breaches glass windows or walls. Advocate Health Care operates 11 hospitals and more than 200 care sites across Illinois as part of Advocate Health, the nation's third-largest nonprofit integrated health system.
