Deadly Oak Park Uber crash escalates as 2nd driver rear-ends cruiser on video
Suspected drunk driver crashes into Berkley police cruiser
An Oak Park man was arrested for operating while intoxicated after hitting a Berkley police cruiser already at the scene of a fatal suspected drunk driving crash. Video: Berkley police
An Uber driver is dead and two unrelated drivers were arrested overnight under the suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Police were at the scene of a crash in Oak Park when a second driver caused a second, unrelated crash.
Oak Park Uber driver crash
The backstory:
Around 11 p.m. Thursday night, police responded to a crash in Oak Park at 8 Mile and Coolidge.
Two vehicles were involved, a Dodge Charger and a Buick Envision.
What we know:
Police said the driver of the Dodge Charger, a 19-year-old man, went through the light and hit the Buick. Nearby surveillance video confirmed the cause of the crash, police said.
Police said the driver of the Buick had to be cut out of the car, and was later pronounced dead. The driver was working as an Uber driver at the time, police added.
Police found the Uber passenger, a 23-year-old man, lying in the middle of the road and said he had been thrown from the car when the crash happened. The passenger is in critical condition in the hospital.
The driver of the Dodge Charger and his 18-year-old female passenger weren’t seriously injured, police said.
Police said they believed intoxication was a factor involving the Dodge driver, and he was taken into custody.
While police were investigating this deadly crash, a second crash occurred at the scene around 1 a.m..
A driver rear-ended a Berkley patrol car. The Berkley officer that was assisting on-scene was not in the car at the time and not hurt.
That driver, a 39-year-old man from Oak Park, was also arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, and Berkley Police said preliminarily that the driver indicated a blood alcohol concentration three times the legal limit.
What we don't know:
Police haven’t identified the Uber driver that was killed, or the 19-year-old that was arrested.
Oak Park Police did not release the surveillance video showing the first crash.
Image: A screenshot from video shared by the Berkley Police Department that shows a suspected drunk driver rear-ending a police cruiser parked at an accident scene in Oak Park.
Video perspective:
Berkley Police released video of the second crash that occurred at the scene.
Video shows a driver speedy by the scene, with the sound of screeching brakes and a crash. The officer nearby, in a traffic vest, flinches.
"Yes, I’m good. I didn’t see any of that," the driver can be overheard telling police.
What they're saying:
"We are sharing a brief video of the incident as a community awareness message regarding the dangers of drinking and driving," Berkley Police said on social media.
The Source: Information in this article was taken from the Oak Park and Berkley police departments, which shared information on social media.