Two drivers were killed in a horrific Chicago crash after police say one driver ran a red light.
The double-fatal crash happened just after 3 a.m. Wednesday in the 1000 block of North Clark on Chicago’s Near North Side.
There, police said a Hyundai Sonata and a taxi cab were traveling southbound on Clark when the driver of the Sonata, which was traveling at a high rate of speed, failed to stop at a red light and rear ended the cab in the intersection.
The cab driver, identified by authorities as 52-year-old Mekonnen Kassa, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and the driver of the Sonata, a 40-year-old man, was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Both were later pronounced dead.
Friends of the cab driver said he was just starting his shift Wednesday morning and had picked up a coffee for a fellow driver minutes before the accident happened.
"He always lived for other people," Kassa's best friend Nabulus Chaneyakaw said. "He is so humble and always cares for people. He is such a good guy."
The crash closed streets in the area and prompted numerous Chicago Transit Authority bus reroutes.
Local
Oak Street was shut down from LaSalle to State Streets and Clark Street was closed from Maple to Walton. No. 22 busses were being rerouted via Clark, Chicago, State and Division. Westbound no. 70 busses were also rerouted via Walton, Clark, Delaware, Dearborn and Division.
