Firehouse.Com - In The Line of Duty (4/30/00) Chicago Firefighter Killed, Many Injured in Crash
Chicago Fire Lieutenant Killed; Firefighter Critical and 12 Others Injured in Collision
DAVE J. IANNONE
Firehouse.Com Senior Editor
A veteran Chicago Fire Lieutenant was killed and a second firefighter listed in critical condition when a ladder truck responding to a false alarm on Saturday, Apr. 29 was broadsided by a truck that failed to yield the right-of-way at a four-way stop intersection, officials said. Twelve other people were injured, including three firefighters.
Fire Lieutenant L. C. Merrell
Fire Lieutenant L. C. Merrell and Firefighter Rodney Sevier was ejected from their unit when it was broadsided by a landscape truck in an intersection, officials said.
Merrell, the unit's officer, was pronounced dead a short time after being transported to Christ Hospital. Sevier was listed in fair condition Monday at the same hospital with multiple injuries, police said.
A third firefighter was released from an area hospital Sunday and the two others were treated and released with minor injuries on Saturday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
At least nine civilians were injured, none seriously.
Merrell, 43, was an 18-year veteran who is survived by his wife and four children. Their ages were not immediately available early Sunday. He
According to officials, Truck Company 24 was returning from a response when it was dispatched on an automatic alarm call shortly before Noon on the city's South Side.
The unit had slowed down as it approached a four-way stop at the intersection of 107th and Throop Streets. The landscape truck went through a stop sign, and broadsided the responding unit on the front passenger side.
"There's no criminal negligence, it's just a terrible accident," Sgt. Matthew Brown of the Chicago Police Department's Major Accident Investigation Unit told Firehouse.Com News early Sunday.
The driver of the landscape truck, 56-year-old Isac Zepeda, was issued three traffic citations, including disobeying a stop sign, failure to yield to an emergency vehicle and failure to properly wear a seat belt. More serious charges would not be filed in connection with Merrell's death, Brown said. Six people were traveling in the pickup truck, reports said.
A third vehicle was also involved in the crash. Witnesses in that vehicle told the Chicago Sun-Times that the pickup truck ignored the stop sign.
Officials said they did not know if the firefighters had been wearing the seat belts, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. City regulations require that emergency units have control of an intersection before going through.
"The fire truck slowed down, but it was a four way stop and they had their emergency lights on," Brown said. "[The lights] are a request for a right-of-way to go through, not automatic, but in this case [the fire truck] was already in the middle of the intersection when [it] was [struck]."
Grief counselors were called in to assist those who worked with Merrell and his crew deal with the tragedy. Firefighters were keeping vigil at Christ Hospital for those still hospitalized.
Funeral and Related Information
- Visitation
Friday, May 5
Noon - 8 PM
Leak & Sons Funeral Home
7838 South Cottage Grove
Chicago
- Funeral Service
Saturday, May 6
Visitation - 10 AM
Funeral Service - 11 AM
Metropolitan Community Church
4100 S. King Drive
Chicago
- Internment
Lincoln Cemetary
12300 South Kedzie AvenueRelated Links
- Sun-Times (Wed): Failure to use seat belt cited in crash death of firefighter
- Sun-Times (Mon): City firefighters honor colleague killed in crash
- Sun-Times (Sun): Firefighter killed in crash
- Daily Southtown (Mon): Firefighter killed in crash remembered
- Daily Southtown (Sun): Firefighter killed, four others hurt in accident
- Tribune (Mon): Fatal Crash Shows Risk of Fire Runs
- Tribune (Sun): Firefighter Killed, 13 Hurt in Crash
- Chicago Fire Department (Official Site)
- Chicago Police Major Accident Investigation Unit
- IAFF Local 2
Chicago Fire Lieutenant Struck, Killed by Car at Accident Scene
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Firehouse.Com NewsThe driver of a car that fatally struck a Chicago fire lieutenant on Saturday has been charged with reckless homicide.
Seeing the driver held accountable, however, can provide little satisfaction for the fire department, said spokesman Mike Cosgrove.
"It will not bring Lt. Gillen back," he said. "The fire department is in the midst of preparing a funeral to honor the firefighter and at this time wishes that the law enforcement authorities perform their job and charge the driver with whatever is appropriate," the spokesman said.
Newly appointed lieutenant Scott Gillen, 37, the father of five daughters, was killed as he was working at the scene of a traffic accident shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday morning.
Police said the driver of the car, Carlando Hurt, failed to merge around the parked emergency vehicles.
Gillen was trapped between the car and his own ladder truck, which he had been standing behind. After he was extricated, he was taken to an area hospital where he died a short time later. There were no other serious injuries in the crash.
Other charges Hunt faces include failing to yield to an emergency vehicle, driving under the influence and driving with a revoked license. At a bond hearing, prosecutors also told the judge that Hurt was legally drunk at the tie of the crash, the Chicago Tribune reported. Hunt's bond was set at $400,000.
Gillen was a 14-year veteran of the fire department and is part of a firefighting family. He had been promoted to lieutenant just two weeks ago. The death was the second this year in Chicago involving a vehicle-related accident. Chicago Fire Lieutenant L. C. Merrell was killed and a second firefighter seriously injured when a ladder truck responding to a false alarm on Saturday, Apr. 29 was broadsided by a truck that failed to yield the right-of-way at a four-way stop intersection.
"It is clear that there are members of the public that are not respecting the importance of emergency vehicles responding to alarms," Cosgrove said. "The fire commissioner is very upset that this situation takes such a heavy toll."
Funeral/Memorial Information
Visitation services for Gillen will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 26th from 2 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Sheehy Funeral Home in the 9000 block of W. 151st Street in Orland Park, Ill.
Funeral services will be Wednesday, Dec. 27th at 10 a.m. at St. John Fisher Catholic Church, at 10234 S. Washtenaw Ave. in Chicago.
Related:
- Chicago Tribune: $400,000 bond set in crash that killed firefighter
- WMAQ: Firefighter’s alleged killer charged
- Chicago Tribune: Father of Five Killed
- Sun-Times: Driver strikes, kills firefighter at crash site
- Earlier This Year: Chicago Fire Lieutenant Killed; Firefighter Critical and 12 Others Injured in Collision
- Chicago Fire Department (Official)
- Emergency Responder Highway Safety Paper
- IAFF Local 2 - Chicago
Teens Drink One-Fifth of U.S. Alcohol! Beer Soaks America (exposing the lying propaganda of the beer
industry)
The above picture speaks 1,000 words. The beer industry hypocritically tells teens not to drink alcohol until they are 21, while those same companies saturate American culture with booze, booze, booze! Consequently, underaged drinking is an epidemic problem in America!
“I've stood for more sneers and scoffs and insults and had my life threatened from one end of the land to the other by this God-forsaken gang of thugs and cutthroats because I have come out uncompromisingly against them.” —Billy Sunday
Hear Billy Sunday's "Booze Kills!" (MP3)
Hear Billy Sunday on Prohibition (MP3)
The Salvation of a Nation (by Pastor Jack Hyles)
Jesus and Wine (No, Jesus did NOT make alcoholic wine!)
Watch Billy Sunday preach! | More Sermons by Billy Sunday
Alcohol is the Most Dangerous Drug! | God is Against Alcohol, Period!
The Truth About Booze — Part 1 | The Truth About Booze — Part 2 (Pastor Jeff Owens)
Click
to hear the needful MP3 sermon, Alcohol Public Enemy #1
(by Pastor Danny Castle)
Download
MP3 Sermon |
Download
MP3 with gospel singing before sermon
“I tell you that the curse of God
Almighty is on the saloon.” —Billy Sunday
Jacqueline Saburido (pictured above)
Teens Drink One-Fifth of U.S. Alcohol! Beer Soaks America (exposing the lying propaganda of the beer
industry)
The above picture speaks 1,000 words. The beer industry hypocritically tells
teens not to drink alcohol until they are 21, while those same companies
saturate American culture with booze, booze, booze! Consequently, underaged
drinking is an epidemic problem in America! Scriptures Condemning Drinking Strong Drink...
Judges 13:4, “Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and
drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing.”
1st Samuel 1:15, “And Hannah answered and said, No, my lord, I am a
woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but
have poured out my soul before the LORD.” Proverb:20:1,
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and
whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” Proverb
31:4, “It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink
wine; nor for princes strong drink.” Isaiah 5:22,
“Woe
unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle
strong drink.”
Isaiah 24:9, “They shall
not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink
it.”
Isaiah 28:7, “But they
also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way;
the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are
swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err
in vision, they stumble in judgment.”
“I've stood for
more sneers and scoffs and insults and had my life threatened from
one end of the land to the other by this God-forsaken gang of thugs
and cutthroats because I have come out uncompromisingly against
them.” —Billy Sunday
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." —Proverb 20:1
Only one life 'twill soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.
God is Against Alcohol, Period!
Jacqueline Saburido (pictured above)
“I tell you that the curse of God Almighty is on the saloon.”
Billy Sunday (1862-1935)
—Billy Sunday
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." ~Proverb 20:1
Hear Billy Sunday's "Booze Kills!" (MP3)
Hear Billy Sunday on Prohibition (MP3)
The Truth About Booze- part 1 (Pastor Jeff Owens)
The Truth About Booze- part 2 (Pastor Jeff Owens)
The Salvation of a Nation (by Pastor Jack Hyles)
The Occult Roots of AA (Alcoholic's Anonymous)
Here's a Christian alternative to Alcoholics Anonymous...
Founded in 1948, Alcoholics Victorious support groups offer a safe environment where recovering people who recognize Jesus Christ as their "Higher Power" gather together and share their experience, strength and hope. AV meetings use both the 12 Steps and the Alcoholics Victorious Creed.
There is Hope!
Jacqueline Saburido
(pictured above)
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” —Proverb 20:1
G.A.D.D.
GOD AGAINST DRUNK DRIVERS!
“Whiskey and beer are all right in their place, but their place is in hell.” —Billy Sunday
“The man who votes for the saloon is pulling on the same rope with the devil, whether he knows it or not.” —Billy Sunday
Teens Drink One-Fifth of U.S. Alcohol!
Beer Soaks America
(exposing
the lying propaganda of the beer industry)