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Four people were killed and nine injured Thursday night in a fiery multivehicle crash on the Edens Expressway at the notorious Clavey Road intersection, which has been the scene of many accidents in the past.
According to Byron Takahashi, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation, a semitrailer truck heading north on the Edens lost its brakes and hit a car with four passengers inside. The car burst into flames. Several other cars were also involved.
Highland Park Fire Capt. Peter Andersen said that five cars and one semitrailer truck were involved in the crash.
Andersen said four bodies were pulled from the wreckage.
The accident occurred at 9:03 p.m., according to Highland Park police.
All the injured were taken to Highland Park Hospital, which declared a disaster plan and summoned all its emergency room doctors and nurses to work. Two of the injured were listed in fair condition and were admitted to the hospital, including the truck driver. The rest were listed in good condition and were expected to be released, said hospital spokesmen Charles Block and Matthew Hamlin.
The Clavey Road intersection is notorious for accidents. It is the first stop on the Edens as traffic heads north from Chicago, and it often surprises northbound drivers who do not expect stoplights on a major highway.
In 1983, the state legislature appropriated $7 million to build an overpass at the intersection to lessen the danger, but construction is not scheduled to start until 1990, Highland Park Mayor Daniel Pierce said Thursday night after the accident.
”Finally it`s going through, but not in time to save the lives of those people tonight,” Pierce said.
A witness said the wreckage looked like ”a black accordion.”
One man who said he witnessed the accident was Jesse Tero, 47, of Lake Forest.
Tero said he was driving south on the Edens and had just passed the Clavey Road stoplight. He said he saw a semitractor without a trailer coming very fast northbound and suddenly hit the brakes.
Tero said the back end of the tractor reared up over the front wheels, and the tractor fell on its left side.
”I saw the truck fall over. It fell over on two cars,” he said. ”It crushed one car. . . . Then there was an explosion, and I saw flames.”
Ted Holleb, 31, a day manager at the Timbers Charhouse, 295 Skokie Valley Rd., a restaurant just west of the highway, said he saw the accident as he came out the rear door to go to his car. The rear of the restaurant faces the highway.
Holleb said:
”I heard brakes. I saw a truck sliding sideways, a cab; it was not pulling anything. The truck rolled over on top of two cars. It looked like a fire in the middle of the truck. At first it was small, but it grew very fast. ”(The truck) rolled, it looked like three times, and hit the guardrail.
”It looked like the truck driver rolled out of the cab. Flames engulfed two or three cars. They were long and high. The fire grew in seconds,” said Holleb, who said he ran back into the restaurant to call police.
”The police came immediately, but there was nothing you could do, the flames came so fast. The cars were smashed so hard you couldn`t tell. They looked like mangled steel.”
Holleb said he thought there were nine cars stopped in the northbound lanes at the light before the truck came up from behind them in the right or easternmost lane. He said there appeared to be three cars in each of the three northbound lanes.
Kelly Hoxie, the general manager of the restaurant, said he also ran out. ”I jumped the fence to see what I could do,” Hoxie said. ”I saw two cars on fire, and the truck was beginning to burn. I saw a man stagger towards the median strip. One of the gas tanks blew. I told the man to get on the ground. But the blast from the explosion threw him to the ground.
”You could see and hear metal flying. Another man came to help. We picked up the (truck) driver. He was all bloody. We each took an arm and carried him over to a tree” west of the median.
”The driver kept saying, `I hope they get out. I hope they get out.` The driver looked like he was in his late 30s or 40s. He kept repeating, `I hope they get out.` He was yelling, `My ribs. I hurt.`
”You kept hearing explosions going off,” Hoxie said.
”I started to cry. I wanted to help, but I couldn`t.”
The dead were unidentified early Friday. At Highland Park Hospital, the injured were identified as:
Truck driver Richard Hall, 38, of South Carolina, and Marvin Whitaker, 44, of Zion. Both were reported in fair condition.
Five members of the Bogalbo family of Waukegan: the father, Rogelio, 25;
mother, Necie, 27; daughter Joni, 4; son Russell, 2; and daughter Tiffany, age 8 months. All were listed in good condition.
Arnel Bega, 25, of Great Lakes Naval Station, was reported in good condition, and Stephen Wexler, 40, of Deerfield, was reported in good condition.
Originally Published: December 30, 1988 at 1:00 a.m.
