Chicago police arrest driver after party bus overtakes 13 vehicles in Lakeview

CHICAGO (WLS) – Police arrested a 45-year-old bus driver after he damaged 13 cars in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago on Saturday afternoon.

Cell phone video shows moments just before 3 p.m. when the party’s bus driver was forced through oncoming traffic on Broadway near Addison, then swerved into the southbound lane, seemed to deliberately skim past vehicles parked along the road.

RELATED | Teenager killed after being hit by a car while waiting at South Side CTA bus stop, 3 others injured: CPD

Johnna Watson couldn’t believe it when she saw her blue Jeep being devalued.

“We were probably about five feet away from the car when he hit the road, smashed my mirror and crashed into this car right here, this car in total,” Watson said. “Then he hit one so bad that he rolled around and then he hit the gas and that’s when he smashed my whole driver’s side.”

Watson and her boyfriend planned to attend the nearby Market Days festival before the incident. Robin Delgado and his family are returning from the carnival only to discover their car has also been damaged.

RELATED | 1 person died after the accident in the Oak Forest; some roads are closed, police say

“It’s frustrating,” Delgado said. “This was our first Market Day where we brought the kids in and heard the music and this was really shocking.”

According to Chicago police, the party bus was eventually restrained near DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Recreation Drive. It was not immediately clear if anyone else was inside the bus other than the driver, but police said no one was injured.

The driver’s motives are not known and charges are pending. The driver’s name has not yet been released by police.

The owner of the party bus Black Label Limos, released a statement Sunday that, “We as owners of Black Label Limos, would like to issue a statement regarding the situation that occurred with one of our Buses in Chicago yesterday. The accident. We are also very excited about any incident. We have no further information regarding this situation, however unfortunately the Chicago Manager has not released any further information to us, the owners, beyond what the media has. including our information from media sources.At this time we were unable to contact the driver regarding the events of yesterday.Initially, the Chicago CEO was unable to tell us. whether the bus driver was injured, detained or taken into custody. We finally learned about him in custody through the media. Last night, one of many calls The phone was called to the Chicago CEO, who eventually informed us that the driver was not impaired and had made up his mind. there. Sorry, at this time we have no further information. “