10 Killed in ‘Horrific’ Van Accident Near Chicago

A Salvation Army van carrying family members to visit prison inmates crossed a highway median and collided with a tractor-trailer Friday, killing 10 people and injuring two others.

Those killed were in the 15-passenger van, which was broadsided on Interstate 55. There was no immediate indication of what caused the minivan to veer. Snow had been falling throughout the morning but had cleared by the time of the crash.

“It was horrific,” said State Police Lt. Col. Ted Rizo. “The van was so severely crushed and actually impacted into the front of the truck tractor that we had difficulty identifying the individuals inside.”

“In my 24 years of law enforcement, it was probably one of the worst, horrific accidents I have witnessed,” he said at a news conference.

The collision occurred where Interstate 55 crosses under Interstate 80 southwest of Chicago. Rizo said it was not known if the snow caused the accident, but other drivers in the area reported icy conditions and other accidents.

The only survivor in the van, a female passenger whose name was not released, was in critical condition at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, identified as Nicholas LaLuna, 44, of Kankakee, Ill., was discharged after treatment at the hospital.

The van was traveling to the Dwight and Pontiac correctional centers, said Claudia Rowland, director of the organization’s community correctional programs.

The van was assigned to the charitable group’s correctional services unit in Chicago, which works with inmates and operates a halfway house for paroled prisoners, said Robert Cotner, director of development for the Salvation Army headquarters office in Chicago.

Ed Tutewiller, another Salvation Army official, said those in the van were volunteers and family members of inmates.

He said the driver was experienced and the year-old van had undergone regular maintenance.

At the Salvation Army office in Chicago, Kenneth Allen cried as he awaited word of his sister, Betty Allen. She was taking one of the organization’s vans Friday to see her husband at the state prison in Pontiac.