SUV strikes, kills 2 pedestrians in suburban Chicago crash

DES PLAINES, Ill. (AP) — Two pedestrians died after they were struck by an SUV that also crashed Sunday into a suburban Chicago building, police said.

Des Plaines police said the SUV crossed oncoming lanes on Northwest Highway and struck two pedestrians just after noon Sunday in the Cook County city northwest of Chicago. The two victims, a 42-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man, both later died, police said.

Deputy Chief Matt Matzl of the Des Plaines Fire Department said the SUV's driver also struck a building and a gas main in the crash.

A 71-year-old Des Plaines man who was driving the SUV did not suffer serious injuries and neither did two children who were his passengers. The man told police he was experiencing an unspecified medical emergency at the time of the crash.

Witness Ben Smith said he saw a speeding vehicle just before the crash and was heartbroken to learn that two people died.

“I just thought it was another person, just speeding down, but then I heard the crash and ran inside,” Smith told WGN-TV.

The crash remains under investigation but investigators don’t believe drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash, Cmdr. Matt Bowler of the Des Plaines Police Department said in a news release.

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