Party bus in Chicago sideswipes 13 cars, police say; driver arrested

CHICAGO — The driver of a party bus is accused of sideswiping at least 13 vehicles in a Chicago neighborhood on Saturday, authorities said.

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Police arrested the 45-year-old driver, who allegedly damaged the vehicles in the city’s Lake View neighborhood, WLS-TV reported.

The crashes occurred at about 3 p.m. EDT as the driver of the bus was guiding the vehicle south through the neighborhood, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

No injuries were reported, the newspaper reported.

Vehicles sustained damage ranging from flat tires to broken rear windows and shattered mirrors, according to WMAQ-TV.

“(The driver) was actually kind of calm, you know, because it wasn’t like he was in a hurry, he was kind of maneuvering around traffic and kind of just hitting every car in sight,” Chandra Williams, who witnessed the crashes, told the television station. “And this one car kind of just landed in front of us, so we couldn’t go anywhere else.”

The bus eventually stopped near Lakeshore Drive, and the driver was taken into custody by Chicago police, WGN-TV reported.

Johnna Watson told WLS that her blue Jeep was totaled by the driver.

“We were maybe 5 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 told the television station. “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.”

Black Label Limos, the owner of the party bus, released a statement on Sunday, noting that it was “incredibly thankful” that no one was hurt in “this horrific accident.”

The company said it is waiting for more information from the Chicago Police Department, adding that company officials have not been in contact with the driver.

“Unfortunately, at this time we have no further information,” the company stated.

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