'Reckless' Hit-And-Run Driver Sends Family, Child On Bicycle To Hospital, Authorities Say

CHICAGO — A reckless driver speeding through a Rogers Park alley sent five people — including a child on a bicycle — to area hospitals Wednesday evening then fled the scene before rescuers arrived, authorities said.

The hit-and-run crash took place shortly after 6:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of Jonquil Terrace, near the intersection of Marshfield Avenue, police said.

The driver of a silver Volkswagen sedan headed south toward Howard Street collided with a blue Nissan containing a family of four, sending it into the alley where it came to a stop laying on its passenger side.

"Just high speed, reckless driver racing down the alley," Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th Ward, said in a video from the scene. "Hit that car, sent it into the alley, almost hit the kid."

The driver of the Volkswagen then fled the scene of the crash, which took place outside Gale Community Academy, a Chicago Public Schools neighborhood middle school.

A preliminary report from police indicated the driver hit a 13-year-old boy on a bicycle after crashing into the family's car. However, the alderwoman said the boy had avoided being struck but still needed medical attention.

Two parents in their 40s, and two children, aged 10 and 7, as well as the teen boy, were taken to area hospitals in critical condition and treated for injuries that were later described as not life-threatening.

The children were taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, while the adults were transported to Ascension St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, fire officials said. All were later released.

No one was in custody Thursday morning.