Des Plaines woman killed, four injured in Elk Grove Village crash
A Des Plaines woman and mother of five driving home from work late Tuesday night was killed when her SUV was hit by a car that police say blew through a red light at a busy Elk Grove Village intersection.
Family members identified Andrea Garcia, 45, as the person killed in the crash, which police say occurred at about 11:22 p.m. at Meacham and Biesterfield roads.
“She was a very caring person,” her son, Adolfo Jimenez, said Wednesday. “She took care of her family. That was the number one priority for her. She worked day and night, just so we could have a comfortable life.”
According to Elk Grove police, the crash occurred when a Lexus sedan traveling north on Meacham passed through a red light and collided with Garcia’s Honda SUV, which was heading east on Biesterfield.
Garcia was taken to Ascension Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, where she was pronounced dead at about midnight, authorities said.
An adult and three juveniles in the Lexus also were taken to area hospitals, where they were treated and later released, police said. A spokeswoman for Palatine Schaumburg High School District 211 confirmed Wednesday that two of people in the Lexus were recent graduates of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates and the other two are current Conant students.
Jimenez said his mother worked as a sales representative for Royal Prestige, a cookware firm with corporate offices in Rolling Meadows. She would work from “nine in the morning all the way until 10 at night,” he said.
Garcia leaves behind five children - three sons 27, 22 and 14 years of age, and two daughters, ages 19 and 4.
“My mom and I were working jobs so we provide for the household,” said Jimenez, Garcia’s middle son. “Now with her gone, it's going to be extremely difficult.”
He said he was in bed, getting rest before work, when police officers knocked on the door of the family’s apartment and informed him his mother was in the hospital. He learned of her passing when he arrived, he said.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover funeral expenses.
The crash remains under investigation by the Elk Grove Village Police Department Traffic Unit, with assistance from members of the Major Case Assistance Team - Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction and other area police departments.
Elk Grove Deputy Police Chief Christopher Torres said the investigation could take several days, or even weeks, and no charges have been filed at this time.
Meacham from Texas and Dakota streets, and Biesterfield between Home Avenue and Michigan Lane were closed overnight as police investigated, but all roads were reopened by 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, police reported.
· Daily Herald staff writer Eric Peterson contributed to this report.