Window Washer Injured In Chain Reaction Crash

2 Hurt When Car Hits Cab, Window Washing Van In River North: Two people were in the hospital Thursday morning, after a motorist slammed into a cab and a window washing van in River North – knocking the window washer right off the scaffolding mounted on top. Around 3:40 a.m. Thursday, the driver of a black Infiniti slammed into the cab at State and Ohio streets. The driver then hit the window washing van, and the scaffolding fell. The window washer was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was reported in stable condition. A passenger in the cab was also hurt. There was no word on that person’s condition or the hospital to which the person was taken. The driver of the Infiniti told witnesses he was speeding away to get away from someone shooting at him near the Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s a couple of blocks away at Clark and Ohio streets. No one was in police custody as of 5 a.m. Thursday.

Chase sets off chain-reaction crash, washer knocked off scaffold: A BMW chased an Infiniti on the Near North Side early this morning, ramming it and setting off a chain-reaction accident that knocked a 25-foot scaffolding out from under a window-washer, according to police. The chase began around 3:25 a.m. as the Infiniti was headed east on Ohio Street, according to police. It was unclear what started the chase, but the driver of the Infiniti told officers he thought he recognized the driver of the BMW, according to preliminary police reports. The BMW started following the Infiniti and rear-ended it, police said. The Infiniti driver said the BMW driver brandished a weapon and then he heard gunshots, but police have not confirmed that any shots were fired, said Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The Infiniti continued east on Ohio Street and was rammed again by the BMW, causing the Infiniti to lose control and collide with a taxi near Ohio and State streets, Mirabelli said. The Infiniti’s airbags deployed and the car to lost control and struck a Ford truck owned by a window cleaning service. Either the Infiniti or the truck then crashed into scaffolding where a worker was cleaning the windows of a restaurant, police said. He fell 25 feet to the ground and was taken Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition has stabilized, Mirabelli said. The driver of the taxi was also taken to Northwestern, where he was treated and released. The Infiniti is registered to Carlos Rivera of Palatine, who said he had sold the car to a friend. "He told me he was getting shot at and that’s why he crashed," Rivera said. "He said he was being chased by someone but didn’t know why.” Police are questioning the driver of the Infiniti, but the driver of the BMW has not been found. He was last seen headed east on Ohio. 

A speeding car, apparently racing another vehicle early Thursday, crashed into a cab that hit a hydraulic lift, police said.

Window Washer Injured in Chain Reaction Crash: A window washer and a taxi driver were injured early Thursday after a car speeding down Ohio Street crashed. Two cars apparently were racing each other around 3:30 a.m. when a car struck a cab near State Street, police said. The taxi hit a hydraulic life and knocked a man working on the lift to the ground. The window washer and cabbie were both taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where they were listed in fair condition. So far, there's no word on charges.