March 20--A 27-year-old man has died after an allegedly drunken wrong-way driver hit another car on the Bishop Ford Freeway at 147th Street early Saturday near south suburban Dolton, according to Illinois State Police.
At 2:28 a.m., several calls came in of a Kia sport-utility vehicle traveling north in the southbound lanes and at 2:31 a.m., another caller told police the Kia crashed into a Saturn going south in the southbound lanes, Trooper Ivan Bukaczyk said.
The driver of the Kia, a 44-year-old Dolton man, was taken to Franciscan St. Margaret's Health in Hammond, with non-life-threatening injuries. He was the sole person in the Kia. The man is suspected of having alcohol in his system, police said.
A 35-year-old Chicago Heights man was driving the Saturn and was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. His passenger, a 27-year-old Chicago Heights man, was pronounced dead. He was later identified as Francisco Sotelo Juarez of the 1000 block of Emerald Avenue, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. The other passenger was also taken to Advocate, and was listed in serious condition.
The wreckage was cleared and lanes were reopened about 7:15 a.m.
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