CHICAGO — Two adults and a toddler were injured Friday morning when a minivan smashed through the windows of a daycare in Chicago, according to fire officials.
The crash happened around 8:15 a.m. at Raekwon’s Scholastic Academy on the city’s South Side when a 34-year-old man crashed through the front windows, WLS-TV and WFLD reported.
The man was taken to a hospital with minor injuries, as was his 4-year-old son, who was in the vehicle at the time of the crash, according to WFLD and the Chicago Sun-Times. A teacher was also transported from the daycare for treatment of cuts, WLS reported.
Photos from the scene showed the crash destroyed panels of floor-to-ceiling glass windows at the front of the daycare.
#Chatham - vehicle crashed through a front window at Raekwon’s Scholastic Daycare Academy at 79th & Wentworth. No word on if anyone was injured. pic.twitter.com/ss5ngKBuOn
— Jeanette Hudson (@JHudsontraffic) April 28, 2023
The circumstances leading up to the crash remained unclear Friday afternoon. Daycare owner Raekwon Neighbors told WLS that video from surveillance cameras showed the vehicle coming into the parking lot. The driver appears to be pulling into a parking spot near the front entrance when the vehicle speeds up and goes over a curb and through the windows, WBBM-TV reported.
“It looks like he just drove directly through the glass,” Neighbors told WLS. “Like he might’ve tried to hit his brakes and he hit the accelerator.”
The vehicle struck an area where children typically gather to start the day, though Neighbors told WLS and the Sun-Times that the crash happened before many students had arrived. The vehicle came to a stop in a classroom, he said.
“We’re going to get everything fixed... and probably get some barriers up front...just in case something like that happens (again),” Neighbors told the Sun-Times. “You can never guess that somebody is going to accidentally hit the accelerator.”
