CHICAGO—An 84-year-old woman has died after being injured in a Chicago crash that involved multiple vehicles and also hurt 10 police officers.
The Chicago Tribune reports that two Chicago police vehicles were in a crash with several other civilian vehicles around 10 p.m. Saturday in the Austin neighborhood on the city’s West Side.
Twelve people were injured, including 10 Chicago police officers. The officers involved in the crash responded to an emergency call from other officers about the road accident.
Police say the 10 officers and a man and woman who were both civilians were taken to a hospital. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed in a tweet Sunday evening that the woman has died and he offered condolences to the family.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected by last night’s tragic car accident & deepest condolences to Bishop Gunn and his family. https://t.co/1lQAx2RDZQ pic.twitter.com/e9yvTasAjk
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) May 26, 2019
In a tweet earlier Sunday, he said the officers’ injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.
“In a Facebook post, Pastor Dwight Gunn, Verona’s son, said that the family will seek answers from Chicago police about the exact circumstances of the crash,” NBC5 Chicago reported.
“We have a lot of questions:” Family demands answers after matriarch killed in crash involving CPD vehicles Saturday https://t.co/unLCRnAJex
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) May 27, 2019
“Overnight my family experienced the loss of our Matriarch Verona E. Gunn through no fault of her own,” Dwight Gunn said.
“The internal injuries from the crash were too much for my 84-year-old mother to overcome. My family will seek answers for the reckless behavior of the Chicago Police Department as we mourn the loss of our mother,” the post continued.
Police have not released the details of the crash at the time of this report.
Fatal Car Crash Statistics
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, analyzing data from the Department of Transportation, there were 37,133 deaths from car accidents in 2017, the last year full data is available for. The deaths occurred across 34,247 fatal motor vehicle accidents.
The number means 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people and 1.16 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, although those numbers can vary widely across states.
The highest deaths per 100,000 population were in Mississippi, which saw 23.1 such deaths, and the most deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled were in South Carolina, which saw 1.80 such deaths.
The majority of fatal accidents are single-vehicle crashes, the institute noted.
The Department of Transportation said in October 2018 that there were 37,133 deaths from motor vehicle crashes in 2017, a decrease of almost 2 percent from 2016.
In comparison, there was an increase of about 6.5 percent from 2015 to 2016 and an increase of about 8 percent from 2014 to 2015.
Pedestrian fatalities also declined by about 2 percent.
Epoch Times staff contributed to this article.
