Multiple Fatal Crashes Claim Five Lives Overnight

CHICAGO (CBS)--Five people were killed in four fatal traffic crashes overnight in Chicago.

The victims include two teenagers, a 35-year-old man, and retired Chicago Fire Department paramedic Richard Biehl and his wife, Susan.

The multi-vehicle crash that killed the couple occurred on the 103rd Street Bridge around 1:20 a.m., police said. The Jeep they were riding in flipped onto its roof when it was hit by a Chevy sedan in the 2100 block of East 103rd Street.

Before striking the Jeep, the Chevy was heading east, speeding, when it struck a Cadillac driving in the opposite direction.

The Cadillac then struck a Buick, and the Chevy continued on, striking the Biehls' Jeep.

The Chevy's driver, a 30-year-old man, was taken to University of Chicago in critical condition. Three other people were hospitalized with non-threatening injuries.

Alcohol was likely a factor in the crash, police said.

In 2016, there were 270 fatal crashes involving alcohol in Cook County, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The head-on crash that killed the teenagers, a 16-year-old passenger of a vehicle being driven by an 18-year-old man, happened in the South Pullman neighborhood on the 12000 block of South Doty Avenue around 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Police said the Subaru they were in had been traveling northbound when it collided with a Chrysler traveling in the opposite direction.

Both teenagers were pronounced dead at the University of Chicago Medical Center. The 21-year-old driver of the Chrysler and his female passenger, 19, were both taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition.

The 35-year-old man was killed in a separate accident in the Back of the Yards neighborhood around 4:30 a.m.

The man crossed the median on the 4900 block of Ashland and struck a southbound taxi, then a parked car before his vehicle flipped over and landed on top of another parked car.

The cab driver was hospitalized in serious condition.