Police chase sparks deadly crash in McKinley Park, witness feels ‘very lucky’ to be alive

Cory Smith was on the clock as a repossession agent when a car speeding from Chicago police ran a red light and collided with his sport utility vehicle before plowing into a building on the South Side. A passenger in the car was ejected and died early Tuesday.

“I was making a turn [and] I got nailed,” Smith, 44, told the Chicago Sun-Times hours after the crash. “Looking at the car, I probably should’ve been worse or dead.”

Smith, of Hammond, Indiana, suffered injuries to his ankle and left arm, but otherwise said he was “very lucky.”

About 2 a.m., members of a Chicago police robbery team were on patrol when they saw two people believed to be armed get into a black 2007 Lexus ES in the 5500 block of South Pulaski Road, police said.

Officers began pursuing the sedan, which fled at a “high rate of speed” for about 4 miles before running a red light, smashing into Smith’s 2024 Kia Soul and hitting a building in the 3500 block of South Ashland Avenue, police said.

A male passenger of the Lexus was ejected and landed on the sidewalk among the rubble of the partially collapsed building, according to a police report.

The unidentified passenger was declared dead on the scene at 2:19 a.m. while a 23-year-old West Side man behind the wheel was taken to Stroger Hospital with a leg injury, police said. Two guns were recovered, and no charges have been announced.

The crash caused substantial damage to the building at the northeast corner of Ashland and 35th Street, partially collapsing its roof.

Gas company and fence crews tied up traffic on Ashland much of Tuesday morning, causing headaches for the neighborhood florist across the street from the crash site.

“It was a nightmare,” building owner Mick Fasan said of the blocked roads and traffic jams, which finally cleared up about 10 a.m.

Fasan wasn’t around when the crash happened but said he could not “imagine it didn’t wake up half the block.”

Police said no officers were injured, and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating the crash.