The driver of a Ford Explorer that rolled down an embankment and flipped over on the Eisenhower Extension in Addison this morning, killing four women and injuring four other people, has been charged with having no driver's license and issued other citations, police said.
Three men in the 2003 Ford Explorer, also day workers, were seriously injured. The driver, who worked for the Chicago-based agency that employed the laborers, was traveling too fast when the vehicle left the road about 6:15 a.m. just west of Illinois Route 83, state police said.
Authorities said Margot Santillan, 31, of Chicago, was transporting the seven workers to a job in the western suburbs.
"There were lunch pails and work IDs found'' in the wreckage, Addison Fire Dept. Battalion Chief Scott Walker said.
The driver, Margot Santillan, 31, of the 2800 block of North Nordica Avenue, was charged with driving without a valid license and driving on a suspended vehicle registration, both misdemeanors. She was also cited for improper lane usage, failing to reduce her speed, and driving without insurance, state police Lt. Brian Windle said.
Seven people were ejected and one was trapped underneath the silver 2003 SUV, he said. Two 43-year-old women, a 44-year-old woman and a 28-year-old woman were dead, according to state police. The Explorer appears to have been the only vehicle involved in the crash, state police said late Thursday afternoon.
Four other victims were taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village and Adventist GlenOaks Hospital in Glendale Heights, Addison Deputy Fire Chief Joe Leone said. In addition to those killed, Santillan and three men, ages 51, 43 and 28, all from Chicago, were injured, according to police. Hospital officials would not disclose their conditions, but Windle said Thursday that all three were expected to recover.
Windle said that the driver and front seat passenger appear to have been using their seatbelts, but that none of the other victims showed any sign that they had their seatbelt on when the accident occurred.
"It is very tragic,'' Leone said.
The driver of the vehicle was able to talk with investigators at the scene and was transported to a hospital, where state police investigators interviewed her. The driver was released from GlenOaks a little before 1 p.m., spokesman Chris LaFortune said.
Santillan's family and friends declined to comment as they left the hospital, and Santillan could not be reached at home.
State police investigators were struggling to confirm the identities of the women who died, Windle said. He said Santillan and the other workers didn't know each other and simply met at their company's workplace that morning to carpool to their job site for the day.
"She didn't even know the woman who died in the seat next to her," Windle said. "She knew two of the ladies in the back because she'd worked with them before and knew their first names, but she didn't know their last names or their families or where they lived."
Santillan was charged with driving without a valid license and driving on a suspended vehicle registration, both misdemeanors. She also was cited for improper lane use, failing to reduce speed and driving without insurance, Windle said.
The deadly crash closed the westbound lanes of the expressway for much of the morning, snarling traffic for miles as investigators tried to piece together how the accident occurred while tow truck crews winched the crumpled SUV up the embankment out of the woods.
Windle said state police had not been able to locate anyone who saw the crash, even though it occurred at the beginning of the morning rush. One person did call 911, but authorities weren't able yet to identify that person.
"That's what we find shocking," Windle said. "We're assuming someone witnessed it and maybe continued on their way to work."
Windle said drugs or alcohol did not play a role in the crash.
Tribune reporters Juan Perez Jr. and Liam Ford and freelance reporter Joseph Ruzich contributed.
mwalberg@tribune.com, rsobol@tribune.com
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