Chief Says He Expected 'Catastrophic Injuries' When Truck Crashed Through Preschool Room

PALOS PARK, IL — The crash involving a pickup truck that barreled through the wall of a church into a preschool classroom on Friday could have been a lot worse.

“When I drove up to the church, I was really expecting to see catastrophic injuries,” said Chief Joe Miller, of the Palos Park Police Department.

A 29-year-old Oak Forest man was heading eastbound on 123rd Street/McCarthy Road around 4:30 p.m., when police said he veered off the roadway and crossed 86th Avenue into the parking lot of The Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration, injuring three young children.

>>> Preschoolers Injured When Truck Drives Through Palos Park Church

Miller said security video from the Plush Horse across the street from the church on 86th Avenue, showed the truck crossing into the lane of oncoming traffic, where it ended up on the shoulder. The vehicle missed a fire hydrant and two poles, but hitting an IDOT sign. missing a truck and two poles, but hitting an IDOT sign.

“The truck went between two big trees into the building,” the police chief said.

Miller said five children and their teacher were in the preschool classroom when the pickup crashed into the preschool classroom. Three children sitting near the vehicle’s path were injured. The other children were sitting farther away.

Palos Park Police Department

All three children were taken to Advocate Children’s Hospital-Oak Lawn. A boy suffered a broken femur, and the other two children sustained cuts and bruises. Two of the children were released Saturday from Advocate Children’s Hospital-Oak Lawn. The more seriously injured child is expected to go home soon.

A church staff member was treated and released Friday at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital when she suffered a medical emergency amid the commotion of the crash.

Two Palos police officers who were first to arrive at the scene ran through the gaping hole into the preschool to start pulling out kids. Both officers were transported to Palos Hospital, suffering lung injuries from breathing in construction debris. The officers were released Saturday.

The 29-year-old driver, who is believed to have experienced a medical emergency before the accident occurred, has also been released from Palos Hospital.

Police have retrieved the vehicle’s black box. Investigators are currently waiting for the driver’s medical records. Toxicology samples have also been sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab, Miller said it could be weeks before results are returned.

As the investigation continues, indications are consistent with an earlier statement that the driver of the pickup truck may have suffered a medical emergency.

Transfiguration parishioners were to have celebrated the church’s 75th anniversary at a venue in Orland Park. The preschool graduation that was to have taken place Saturday was postponed. Sunday services were also cancelled.

As investigators remained on the scene during the overnight hours, reconstructing the accident, they talked about a similar crash that happened last month in Chatham, Ill., where a vehicle plowed through a school building into an after school program.Three children and a teen were killed, and six others were injured.

“It was all everyone talked about,” Miller said. “It's miraculous that no one was catastrophically injured.”