Pubdate: Thu, 24 Nov 2005
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2005 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact:  http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: David Heinzmann and Charles Sheehan, Tribune staff reporters
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

COP IN FATAL CRASH WITH SUV ON WAY TO RAID

State Reports Driver Never Had A License

A Chicago police lieutenant whose squad car crashed into a SUV 
Tuesday night, killing a 56-year-old woman and injuring two others, 
was responding to calls for backup by tactical officers on a drug raid.

The lieutenant, driving a marked squad car east on 63rd Street, 
entered the intersection on St. Lawrence Avenue with its lights and 
siren on at 11 p.m., police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. He struck 
a Chevy Blazer carrying Betty Salters and three other people, 
including a child.

Salters, of the 5600 block of South Calumet Avenue, was ejected from 
the vehicle, police said. The driver of the 1989 Blazer, Cameron 
Jackson, 24, was cited for driving without a license, without 
insurance and without safety restraints for a child, police said.

Jackson has never had a valid driver's license, according to the 
Illinois secretary of state's office, but still managed to have 
numerous moving violations. Because of that, the state created a 
driving record to document the violations, said Beth Kaufman, a 
secretary of state spokeswoman.

Kaufman said that Jackson's driving privileges--or his ability to get 
a driver's license--were currently suspended because he had failed to 
obtain high-risk insurance, which was required because of the number 
of moving violations he had.

The major accidents investigation unit was handling the case, and no 
decisions had been made yet about blame for the accident, police said.

There are no obstructive views at the site of the accident, with open 
lots on every corner of the intersection where the accident occurred 
except oneElevated train tracks run overhead along 63rd Street.

A Grand Crossing District tactical team was working a narcotics 
investigation in a Chicago Housing Authority high-rise at 6217 S. 
Calumet Ave. and called for immediate backup, prompting the 
lieutenant to drive to the scene, police said.

The lieutenant was three blocks from the building when the accident 
happened, police said. Salters was transported to Advocate Christ 
Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead. The 
lieutenant was treated for minor injuries and released.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth