Publications & Sites 
Eight injured, two critical, in Hinsdale crash
Updated: December 9, 2012 6:40AM
HINSDALE — A vehicle with eight people inside, all minors, crashed Friday evening, causing all eight to be transported to the hospital.
The police responded to a crash near the intersection of Park Avenue and Fourth Street at 7:37 p.m., Hinsdale Deputy Police Chief Mark Wodka reported.
Only one vehicle was involved in the accident, a 2003 Toyota Sequoia, driven by a 16-year-old boy from Hinsdale, Wodka said.
Hinsdale firefighter and public information officer Steve Tullis said when firefighters arrived, they saw a Toyota sports utility vehicle upright near a telephone pole, and “two victims motionless, one on the curb and one on the street,” Tullis said.
The two were a boy and girl, both under 18, in critical condition, Tullis said. They were taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove.
The six other people who had been in the vehicle were all under 18, officials said. Six of the eight occupants live in Hinsdale and two live in Clarendon Hills, Wodka said.
The Toyota had “heavy damage to the roof and side,” which suggested the vehicle had rolled over, Tullis said. Firefighters also saw damage to a tree 12 feet up the trunk.
Police officials reported the Toyota was going south on Park approaching Fourth Street.
“The driver made a sudden and abrupt left turn” to go east on Fourth, Wodka said “The vehicle then struck the curb and rolled onto its passenger side, striking a tree and wooden light pole that were in the parkway.”
Two of the passengers were unconscious inside the vehicle after the crash, Tullis said. When their fellow passengers saw smoke coming from the engine, “they pulled the two unresponsive passengers out of the vehicle,” he said. They were the two taken to Good Samaritan.
The vehicle did not ignite, Tullis said.
Police officials said only four of the six remaining people were taken to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital.
Tullis, however, said all eight people in the vehicle were taken to the hospital.
“Whenever we see a car rollover, regardless of what the people tell us, based on that alone, we strongly encourage everyone to go to the hospital,” Tullis said.
The driver was charged with failure to reduce speed to avoid a collision and with having too many passengers in a vehicle as a new driver, Wodka said. The graduated driver law requires for the first 12 months of licensed driving, or until the driver turns 18, whichever happens first, only one passenger under the age of 20 is allowed in the car, except for siblings and stepsiblings.
Paramedics and ambulances from Western Springs, Clarendon Hills, Oak Brook and Pleasantview Fire Protection District also responded to the crash and transported victims.
