7/30/2014: One person was killed and multiple others were injured in the crash. The victim’s fiance was right beside him when the accident happened. NBC 5’s Natalie Martinez reports.
The fiance of a pedestrian killed in a crash Wednesday in Edgewater was only feet away from becoming a victim herself.
Frank Kiley, 71, died and multiple others were injured in the crash involving three cars and a CTA bus shortly after 11 a.m. at Sheridan Road and Balmoral Avenue.
Witnesses told NBC 5 a car was trying to pass the bus when it hit two parked cars, one of which then hit the bus.
Kiley, who had just picked up groceries from the Care for Real food pantry, was loading his car when he was pinned between two vehicles. He died at the scene.
Wilma Deveyra says she didn't know what hit them.
"He was at the back opening trunk, I was on the side helping him," Deveyra said. "I some heard loud explosion. All I now I was right on the ground, and I could not get up."
Deveyra says she met Kiley a year ago and they considered themselves married because they were blessed in a church.
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"I don't know what happened. I didn't know what hit us ... I didn't know what happened," Deveyra said.
Joanna Tesluk's car was destroyed in the crash. She had just gotten inside the vehicle when it happened.
"I was turning on my engine and I said, 'let's get music going and that's what happened. It was horrific, unbelievable,
something I can't even describe," Tesluk said.
Several other people witnessed the horrific crash.
"A man was loading stuff right here from the store as soon as he got out," said Irene Villa. "All the cars just crashed and hit him."
"There was smoke everywhere. I ran out there to go help the guy the guy, but when I got up to him there wasn't much I could do," said Robert Cash, who was working at a nearby pizzeria. "He was underneath the car and his legs were slightly severed."
"I don't even think he knew what hit him," Christine Larsen, another witness, said. "This car just came plowing in."
A CTA spokeswoman said the northbound No. 147 bus was standing at the intersection when it was struck by an auto involved in the multi-vehicle accident. The bus didn't make contact with pedestrians, she said.
Chicago Fire officials said four ambulances responded to the scene. One person was transported in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center and three others were taken in fair condition to Weiss Memorial Hospital. Five people refused treatment at the scene.
Witnesses inside the neighboring businesses say the crash sounded like a bomb going off.
"When I heard the accident, the impact, I stand and I saw dust and I saw the guy on the floor," Jim Alhaj said.
The bus operator was uninjured but was transported to the hospital for observation. A passenger on the bus requested medical attention for what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, according to preliminary information.
Police were speaking to a person of interest in the case.
