Normal service on the Brown Line has been restored
after an unmarked Chicago Police car struck a train when it drove around
the crossing gates Friday afternoon on the Northwest Side.
The car went around the downed gate and hit a
Kimball-bound Brown Line train about 3:55 p.m. in the 4600 block of
North Kedzie Avenue, CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis said.
Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said the
vehicle was a police car and emergency personnel initially thought the
passenger was pinned inside.
Police said the officer was assisting her partner in a chase at the time of the crash.
Deputy Chief of Patrol John Escalante said the officer
in the car was following her partner, who was involved in a foot chase
and had already crossed the tracks.
After the crash, the officer was able to free herself
and paramedics took her to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center,
where she was being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police
said.
Paramedics also took a CTA employee to the hospital in good condition, according to the Fire Department.
CTA spokesman Steve Mayberry said 30 to 40 passengers were on the train at the time of the collision, but none were injured.
Service on the Brown Line had been disrupted for about
4 hours following the collision. The CTA shut off power in both
directions between the Kimball and Western stations, according to an
alert from the CTA. Shuttle buses had been transporting passengers
between Kimball and Western.
About 8 p.m., the transit agency said in an alert that service had resumed and that commuters should expect residual delays.
Mike Lazar, owner of the Chaldean Hair Salon across
from the site, said he heard people yelling and screaming in the street
after the crash.
He has seen at least a dozen such crashes in his 15 years of doing business at the site.
Shaimaa Abdulhussein, who works in the shop, said she
ran to site after the accident and could hear CTA personnel talking to
the officer in the car, asking if she was OK. She told them she was
fine.
