CHICAGO (WLS) — Police have arrested a 45-year-old party bus driver after he damaged 13 vehicles in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood Saturday afternoon.
Cell phone video shows the moments when just before 3 p.m. when the driver the party bus forced his way through oncoming traffic on Broadway near Addison, then cut across to the southbound lane, appearing to intentionally sideswipe the vehicles parked along the street.
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Johnna Watson was in disbelief as she watched her blue Jeep get totaled.
“We were maybe five feet away from the car when he came barreling down the street, knocked the mirror off of my car and ran into this car right here, totaled this one,” Watson said. “Then he hit that one so bad he kind of rolled back and then he hit the gas and that’s when he smashed the whole driver’s side of my car.”
Watson and her boyfriend were planning to attend the nearby Market Days festival before the incident happened. Robin Delgado and his family were returning from the festival only to find their vehicle damaged as well.
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“It’s pretty upsetting,” Delgado said. “This is our first Market Days that we’re bringing children to and to hear the music and to come upon this is pretty shocking.”
The party bus was eventually curbed near DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Recreation Drive, according to Chicago police. It’s not immediately clear whether there was anyone else inside the bus other than the driver, but police have said no one was injured.
The driver’s motivations are not known and charges are pending. The driver’s name has not been released by police.
The owner of the party bus Black Label Limos, released a statement Sunday saying, “We the owners of Black Label Limos, would like to make a statement in regard to the situation that occurred with one of our Party Buses in Chicago yesterday. We want to say first and foremost we are incredibly thankful that nobody was injured in this horrific accident. We are just as eager for any information regarding this situation, however unfortunately the Chicago PD has not released any more information to us, the owners, than what the media has. We are learning all of our information from the media sources. At this time we have not been able to be in contact with the driver regarding the events that took place yesterday. Originally the Chicago PD could not tell us if the driver of the bus had been injured, detained, or in custody. We finally learned of him being in custody through the media. Late yesterday evening on one of the numerous phones calls made to the Chicago PD they finally informed us that the driver was not impaired however, they did not specify or elaborate how they made that determination. Unfortunately, at this time we have no further information.”
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