COP IN FATAL CRASH WITH SUV ON WAY TO RAID

State Reports Driver Never Had A License

A Chicago police lieutenant whose squad car crashed into a SUV
Tuesday night, killing a 56-year-old woman and injuring two others,
was responding to calls for backup by tactical officers on a drug raid.

The lieutenant, driving a marked squad car east on 63rd Street,
entered the intersection on St. Lawrence Avenue with its lights and
siren on at 11 p.m., police spokeswoman Monique Bond said. He struck
a Chevy Blazer carrying Betty Salters and three other people,
including a child.

Salters, of the 5600 block of South Calumet Avenue, was ejected from
the vehicle, police said. The driver of the 1989 Blazer, Cameron
Jackson, 24, was cited for driving without a license, without
insurance and without safety restraints for a child, police said.

Jackson has never had a valid driver's license, according to the
Illinois secretary of state's office, but still managed to have
numerous moving violations. Because of that, the state created a
driving record to document the violations, said Beth Kaufman, a
secretary of state spokeswoman.

Kaufman said that Jackson's driving privileges--or his ability to get
a driver's license--were currently suspended because he had failed to
obtain high-risk insurance, which was required because of the number
of moving violations he had.

The major accidents investigation unit was handling the case, and no
decisions had been made yet about blame for the accident, police said.

There are no obstructive views at the site of the accident, with open
lots on every corner of the intersection where the accident occurred
except oneElevated train tracks run overhead along 63rd Street.

A Grand Crossing District tactical team was working a narcotics
investigation in a Chicago Housing Authority high-rise at 6217 S.
Calumet Ave. and called for immediate backup, prompting the
lieutenant to drive to the scene, police said.

The lieutenant was three blocks from the building when the accident
happened, police said. Salters was transported to Advocate Christ
Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where she was pronounced dead. The
lieutenant was treated for minor injuries and released.