TRAGEDY

911 operator killed in crash involving stolen vehicle 

A 911 operator driving home after completing her shift died after a man fleeing from police in a stolen luxury SUV drove into her vehicle in the Bucktown neighborhood, police said.
The accident occurred a little after 6 a.m. near Armitage Avenue and Hoyne Avenue, police said.

The victim was identified as Marciea Adkins, 42. She was pronounced dead at 6:54 a.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
At about 6:15 a.m., Shakespeare District officers stopped the SUV at Blackhawk Street and Elston Avenue after it blew through a red light, police said in a statement.
After police stepped out of their vehicle, the suspect reversed the SUV and struck the car of a police supervisor who was on the scene and then fled in the vehicle, police said.
Police followed the man's SUV -- which later turned out to be reported stolen -- as the suspect blew through another stop sign while traveling northbound on Hoyne and struck a vehicle driven by Adkins which was traveling westbound an Armitage a little more than a mile away from the original stop, officials said.

After striking Adkins' car and a second, parked vehicle, the suspect fled the SUV on foot before being taken into custody, police said.

Adkins worked as a 911 dispatcher, according to officials from the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications.

According to an e-mail press release from Chicago EOMC Executive Gray Schenkel, the agency was "shocked and deeply saddened" by the death of the woman, who had been driving home after her work shift when the accident happened. The release said the woman had worked at OEMC since December 1996.

The release said said that "According to her coworkers and supervisors, she was the nicest, most positive person you would ever want to meet."

At 11 a.m., the woman's car was removed from the busy Bucktown corner where it had appeared to slam sideways -- on the driver's side -- into a fire hydrant.

A Range Rover that was also involved in the crash smashed into a building just north of Armitage on Hoyne.

The early morning crash woke up many in the neighborhood. They described the chilling sight of the victim, who was slumped in the driver's seat, and a desperate attempt by firefighters to free her.

Some also saw or heard a man try to flee the scene after jumping from the Range Rover and later said they saw the man taken from the block in handcuffs. The man is hospitalized but remains in custody, police said.

Witnesses also said several Chicago police vehicles were on the scene within seconds of the accident.

UPDATE:

On any given shift, police dispatcher Marciea Adkins could have monitored a police pursuit, her voice providing a key link between the officers in the chase and other units on the street.

Adkins died early Sunday driving home from her overnight shift after her car was struck by a teenager fleeing from police in stolen SUV, police said. The 16-year-old had touched off a nearly 2-mile pursuit after he backed into a police vehicle during a traffic stop for failing to stop at a red light, police said.

Adkins, 42, was married to a dispatcher for the Chicago Fire Department, and the couple had a young daughter.

The city flag at Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications was lowered to half-staff on Sunday, and Adkins’ body was escorted by police and fire vehicles from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Grief-stricken friends and family gathered at her Northwest Side home, which is less than a mile from the intersection where Adkins was struck -- at Hoyne and Armitage avenues in the Bucktown neighborhood.

“According to her co-workers and supervisors, she was the nicest, most positive person you would ever want to meet,” OEMC Executive Director Gary Schenkel said in a statement.

The crash, at 6:15 a.m., startled several Bucktown residents from their sleep as Adkins’ car seemed to buckle around a fire hydrant on the driver’s side and the SUV, a Range Rover, crashed into a building.

After police had tried to stop the teen at Blackhawk Street and Elston Avenue, he fled north, winding up on Hoyne, where he fatally struck Adkins as she drove west on Armitage, police said.

According to department policy, officers must contact an OEMC dispatcher with details about any pursuit, and a supervisor must monitor and manage the chase. Sources told the Tribune that the pursuit Sunday was called into the dispatch center and monitored.

Police had activated their emergency lights and sirens, but the speed the vehicles were traveling was not released Sunday.

After the crash, the 16-year-old bolted from the SUV, rolled over the hood, darted down a narrow gangway and into an alley and fled west, a witness said. Officers did the same. They rolled over hoods and chased him on foot, catching up with him nearby.

“It was just like you see in cop videos,” said a woman who didn’t want to be named because she helped identify the teen to police. “They were doing their job for sure.”

Once arrested, the teen, who allegedly had been drinking, was taken to a hospital for treatment. No charges had been filed Sunday evening.

It was the chase on foot that woke up Teddy Vehar, 29, whose window is beside the gangway the teen charged through. He heard “flip-flop” steps, he said.

“It sounded like he had big old feet,” said Vehar, who grabbed a bat and ran to his front door in the 2000 block of North Hoyne, preparing to confront a criminal.

But outside, he instead saw Adkins’ wrecked car. She was trapped and not moving. Others said her head was slumped to the side.

Stunned, Vehar offered his bat to help free Adkins, who he said appeared to be turning white. “The poor lady,” Vehar said.

Vehar and others said the Fire Department worked frantically to free Adkins, crawling over the hood of the car to reach her.

“It’s just sad,” said Mike Byrne, 29. “Looking at her, you knew she was gone, and even if she wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be easy to bring her back.”

After freeing her, the firefighters turned to the trunk of the car, ripping it apart, presumably to make sure there were not any other victims.

Several neighbors were shaken by the violent crash. Byrne noted that it happened about an hour before many in the busy neighborhood typically woke up.

“There’s so many people that walk around here with strollers … people with dogs,” he said.

And as the crash investigation stretched through the morning, the streets filled with joggers, dog-walkers and families pushing strollers, many of whom stopped to gaze on the mangled vehicles.

“It just makes my heart so sad,” said the woman who watched the foot chase. “All for a Range Rover.”

A woman at Adkins’ home said the family did not want to comment. Adkins had worked as a dispatcher since 1996.

Shortly after 11 a.m., a procession of six cars and one ambulance left the hospital for the medical examiner’s office, the lights flashing on police and fire vehicles but the sirens were silent. Loved ones rode in Ambulance 43 accompanying Adkins.

Two hospital employees watched as the solemn journey began.

NEWEST UPDATE:

A 16-year-old boy was charged this morning in connection with a fatal traffic crash that left a police dispatcher dead over the weekend.
Marquis Harrison, of the 200 block of South Lotus Avenue, was charged as an adult with one count of first-degree murder and felony burglary, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office. He was also charged with misdemeanor DUI and received two citations.

Authorities said the teen was driving a stolen Range Rover at 6:15 a.m. Sunday and was being chased by police when he plowed into a car near the intersection of Hoyne and Armitage avenues that was driven by Marciea Adkins, a veteran police dispatcher on her way home after working the overnight shift.
The crash startled severalBucktown residents from their sleep as Adkins’ car seemed to buckle around a fire hydrant on the driver’s side, and the SUV, crashed into a building.
The 16-year-old had touched off a nearly 2-mile pursuit after he backed into a police vehicle during a traffic stop for failing to stop at a red light, police said.
Adkins, 42, was married to a dispatcher for the Chicago Fire Department and the couple had a young daughter.
The city flag at the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications was lowered to half-staff on Sunday, and Adkins’ body was escorted by police and fire vehicles from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
After police had tried to stop the teen at Blackhawk Street and Elston Avenue, he fled north, winding up on Hoyne, where he struck Adkins as she drove west on Armitage, police said.
According to department policy, officers must contact an OEMC dispatcher with details about any pursuit, and a supervisor must monitor and manage the chase. Sources told the Tribune that the pursuit Sunday was called into the dispatch center and monitored.

Police had activated their emergency lights and sirens, but the speed the vehicles were traveling was not released Sunday.
After the crash, the 16-year-old bolted from the SUV, rolled over the hood, darted down a narrow gangway and into an alley and fled west, a witness said. Officers did the same. They rolled over hoods and chased him on foot, catching up with him nearby.
“It was just like you see in cop videos,” said a woman who didn’t want to be named because she helped identify the teen to police. “They were doing their job for sure.”
Once arrested, the teen, who allegedly had been drinking, was taken to a hospital for treatment.
It was the chase on foot that woke up Teddy Vehar, 29, whose window is beside the gangway the teen charged through. He heard “flip-flop” steps, he said.
“It sounded like he had big old feet,” said Vehar, who grabbed a bat and ran to his front door in the 2000 block of North Hoyne, preparing to confront a criminal.

But outside, he instead saw Adkins’ wrecked car. She was trapped and not moving. Others said her head was slumped to the side.
Stunned, Vehar offered his bat to help free Adkins, who he said appeared to be turning white. “The poor lady,” Vehar said.
Vehar and others said the Fire Department worked frantically to free Adkins, crawling over the hood of the car to reach her.
“It’s just sad,” said Mike Byrne, 29. “Looking at her, you knew she was gone, and even if she wasn’t, it wasn’t going to be easy to bring her back.”
The teen is expected to appear in bond court at noon.