CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The outbound Dan Ryan Expressway was shut down for several hours Friday morning following multiple separate crashes, including two fatal crashes on the south end of the expressway.
Just before 1:30 a.m. Thursday morning there was a hit and run crash on the outbound Dan Ryan at 83rd Street. Illinois State Police Trooper Osterburg said the person or people who had been in the vehicle that triggered the crash, left the scene by foot.
The driver of the car that was hit moved his vehicle off the expressway and waited for police at the top of the exit ramp. At some point, someone who had been in that first car tried to return to it and was hit and killed by another car. The driver of that car remained on-the-scene. The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office identifies the person killed as 27-year old Devin Polk. He lived in Back of the Yards.
Shortly afterwards, at 87th Street, another crash occurred involved multiple vehicles, state police said, An infant was taken to Comer Children's Hospital in critical condition and a driver was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center and stabilized.
Hours later, around 4 a.m., Illinois State Police said a vehicle burst into flames after being involved in a crash on the outbound Dan Ryan near 73rd Street. The driver of the vehicle on fire was killed.
The medical examiner's office has not released details about the fatality.
Meanwhile outbound on the Dan Ryan around 11:30 p.m. Thursday night, state police say a motorcyclist pulled over at 73rd Street in apparent cardiac arrest. He was taken to a hospital in serious condition.
Traffic is being diverted from the Dan Ryan at 71st Street, state police said. The southbound expressway is fully closed until 95th Street, but traffic can enter southbound I-57 at Halsted.
The closure is expected to last several hours as authorities continue to investigate, state police said.
(WBBM Newsradio and the Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this copy.)
