Driver cited in Des Plaines crash that injured 11

A 23-year-old McHenry County woman has been ticketed following a three-vehicle crash in Des Plaines that sent nearly a dozen people to the hospital Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

Maria Ortiz-Martinez, of Harvard, was cited for failure to yield while turning, police said Sunday.

Police said she was attempting a left turn from Rand Road onto eastbound Golf Road about 1:30 p.m., when she struck a landscaping truck with a trailer that was in an oncoming lane of Rand Road.

The trailer, police said, veered right and into a vehicle stopped at a red light in the right turn lane on westbound Golf Road.

Des Plaines firefighters and paramedics activated a box alarm to bring more ambulances to the crash. The last patient was cleared from the intersection about a half-hour later, just as a storm with heavy rains hit, Des Plaines Fire Chief Alan Wax said in an email. Traffic was tied up for about an hour and 15 minutes, as police directed drivers around the damaged vehicles.

Seven people were taken to Northwest Community Hospital, two to Advocate Lutheran General, and one each to Glenbrook and Alexian Brothers, Wax wrote. All suffered various minor injuries, according to Wax.

Three others were evaluated but refused treatment.

Ambulances from Arlington Heights, Elk Grove Township, Glenview, Mount Prospect, Niles and Park Ridge also responded.