Car crashes into Streamwood banquet hall, severely injures bystanders

A driver crashed into the front of the The Seville banquet hall Friday night in Streamwood and hit two people who remain hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.

Streamwood fire Battalion Chief Joe Ratzek said that according to witnesses, an Uber driver was dropping passengers off.

"After they got out of the car, the car accelerated for some unknown reason and then hit the other cars in the parking lot, injuring a valet parker and a bystander," Ratzek said.

Two people were taken to Amita Health St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates with serious injuries, Ratzek said.

Shortly after 8 p.m. Friday, the lobby of the banquet hall on the 700 block of South Barrington Road was filled with curious onlookers. The front entrance was cordoned off with yellow police tape.

A Jeep Wrangler was parked near the front door, while several feet away two vehicles, a Toyota and a Volvo, were pushed together and damaged.

"Out of the corner of my eye, I just saw a car kind of go by (and) a guy's legs go up in the air," said witness Kyle Kowalski, who was at the banquet facility volunteering for a heroin awareness event.

Kowalski said he ran out to see what was happening.

"I saw a guy that had probably a four-inch laceration on the back of his head," he said.

Kowalski said one other person just missed getting hit.

Another witness, Tina McLees, said an Uber driver drove up to the entrance and stopped close to the doors on the sidewalk area.

"They told him he was on the sidewalk, and when he gassed it and pulled away, he hit the glass and pinned the valet (between the Uber car and the Jeep), ran a couple people over and then hit a bunch of cars."

Streamwood police were on the scene, gathering information and taking pictures, but they would not comment.