A woman who exited her stalled car on South Lake Shore Drive to look under the hood was killed in a chain-reaction crash this afternoon, forcing police to shut down traffic on the busy road until later afternoon.
Ruthie Butler, 48, of the 1300 block of East 63rd Street, was pronounced dead at 2:45 p.m. at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The accident occurred near 50th Street on the Drive around 2 p.m. and police had to divert traffic near there as officials investigated near the scene. Regular traffic resumed by 5 p.m., police said.
Butler had stopped to work on her stalled vehicle in one of the southbound lanes, causing the vehicle behind her to stop, police said.
“A third vehicle then collided into that vehicle and pinned her underneath her vehicle,” Chicago Police Officer John Mirabelli said. The woman was dead on the scene.
The Chicago fire department took a man to a hospital in critical condition, but it was unclear how the man was injured. Mirabelli said they were interviewing the man who rear-ended the stopped vehicle on the scene. Police had no immediate further information.
The crash occurred a few miles south of where thousands of football fans were leaving the Chicago Bears game against the Detroit Lions at Soldier Field Sunday afternoon.
The Chicago Police Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating the crash.
Dan Blake, Chicago Breaking News Center
