Chicago Sun-Times
COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Two Cook County Department of Corrections officers were injured Wednesday evening when a car sideswiped the van they were using to transport nine inmates to the Cook County Jail.
The accident happened about 5 p.m. at Sacramento Boulevard and Lexington Street, according to Fire Media Affairs Assistant Director Eve Rodriguez.
The two corrections officers were seated in the front of the van, which was bringing nine female inmates from courthouses to the jail, according to Cook County Sheriff’s Police spokeswoman Penny Mateck.
“The van was sideswiped by another vehicle and the driver’s side window broke in on the two officers,” Mateck said. The officers suffered minor cuts and were taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
The inmates had “no visible injuries,” Mateck said, and were taken by another transport van to Cermak Hospital at the jail, where they will be examined. A medical evaluation is routine anyway for incoming inmates, she said.
An EMS Plan I was called and “almost immediately secured,” according to Fire Media Director Larry Langford. Two ambulances responded to the scene to take the officers to Stroger Hospital, but no ambulances were needed to transport any inmates, he added.