Woman extricated from car after Mt. Prospect accident

A dump truck overturned and landed on top of a car whose driver had to be rescued Friday afternoon in Mount Prospect, authorities said.

In total, four vehicles were involved in a crash that occurred about 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of Algonquin and Busse roads. It was unclear exactly how the crash occurred, but some witnesses at the scene said the truck struck a vehicle in the intersection before it overturned on Algonquin and its cab landed on a westbound Nissan Altima.

The roof of the Nissan was removed and the driver, a 67-year-old Schaumburg woman, was extricated by firefighters.

It took crews about 45 minutes to perform the rescue, since two large wrecking trucks had to be brought in to stabilize the 18-wheel dump truck, and then crews peeled back the cab and removed the Nissan’s roof, door and a car seat to gain access to the driver, according to Battalion Chief Randy Uidl of the Mount Prospect Fire Department.

“She was talking to us the whole time,” Uidl said. “She never lost consciousness.”

Kurt Donaldson, owner of Vanguard Tool and Engineering in Mount Prospect, said the driver of the Nissan is his secretary, who had just left work for the day minutes before the crash. She was on her way home to Schaumburg.

“Her husband called the office about 3:30 and said it was an emergency,” Donaldson said.

Donaldson said she was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with injuries, but he did not know her condition. He said she has been working at his company for about 10 years and described her as a good employee.

Police said the truck had been traveling eastbound on Algonquin; two other vehicles involved in the crash had been traveling westbound.

Vinod Patel, a clerk at the Marathon gas station located at the intersection, said he saw the truck hit a car in the intersection, then flip over and spill its load of gravel. One of the cars struck in the intersection was driven by one of Patel’s regular customers. He said she had just left the convenience store after making a purchase.

Authorities said the truck driver, a 32-year-old man from Elgin, was transported to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights. A 57-year-old woman from Schaumburg who was driving another car was also transported to Northwest Community, and a 35-year-old woman from Hanover Park who was driving a van was transported to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village. All had minor, nonlife threatening injuries.

One firefighter was transported due to a heat-related injury.

No citations had been issued as of Friday night.

Algonquin remained closed for more than five hours after the crash between Busse and Dempster Street, and Busse was closed between Algonquin and Higgins during the accident investigation.

By 7:30 p.m., crews were able to bring the truck back upright. By 9 p.m., the intersection had reopened.