Man killed in crash in Western Springs that injured 3 others, involved 6 vehicles ID'd
WESTERN SPRINGS, Ill. (WLS) -- The man killed in a crash Thursday afternoon in Western Springs involving six vehicles has been identified.
Joseph P. Mankiewicz, 44, of Chicago was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, Western Springs police said Friday.
The incident took place just after 4:10 p.m. on Ogden Avenue between Harvey and Clausen avenues, police said.
When officers arrived, they found six vehicles involved. Three adults were taken to area hospitals, two were in serious condition and one remained stable.
Mankiewicz was driving an Audi A7, police said. His best friends returned to the scene of the crash near Nazareth Academy, which they attended, to lay flowers for the man they knew as "Joey."
"I had literally just had dinner with him the night before," said friend Homero Villareal, fighting back tears. "Less than 24 hours, here we are."
Police said they were still investigating what caused the crash, and did not provide any additional information about what might have led up to it.
Chopper 7HD was above the scene in the aftermath of the incident Thursday afternoon.
The badly mangled vehicles were scattered across four lanes of Ogden Avenue in varying states of extreme damage.
"Someone was passing another car and clipped the pickup truck and sent it spinning, and that started a chain reaction," said Jim Sikora, who lives near the crash scene.
The man inside the pickup truck had his young son with him. Too shaken to talk on camera, the pickup driver said it was the scariest thing he'd ever experience. It happened too fast, he said, to even know what started it.
The stretch of road has no turn lanes, and neighbors said it has been constantly plagued with speeding drivers.
"Someone must've been going very fast, and it doesn't make sense how the cars wound up," said Brian Clark, who lives nearby.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Western Springs Police Department's Detective Division at 708-246-1800.
