Elderly man hospitalized after crashing into Wheeling retention pond

FOX 32 NEWS - On Monday, an elderly man in north suburban Wheeling crashed into two cars and fell over a retaining wall into a retention pond.

Just after 5 o'clock, a man in his 80s was pulling into a parking lot for the Korean Cultural Center. He came up and over a curb, slammed into a fire hydrant, struck two parked cars and eventually the car landed in a retention pond at the end of the parking lot.

The Wheeling fire battalion chief says the man was driving a Lexus SUV and was alone in the car. They are still investigating what caused the chain of events that made the driver hit two parked cars before going into the retention pond.

The chief says it was either a medical emergency or an equipment failure in the vehicle that caused the crash.

When emergency crews arrived, they had to stabilize the car, which was dangling hood first into the retention pond, in order to get the man. He was treated at the scene and taken to a local hospital with a number of injuries.

A friend told FOX 32 that the man has had heart issues in the past.

Several dive teams responded to the call and a tow truck eventually pulled the car from the pond about two hours after the incident.

No one was in this minivan or the other car the driver hit at the time. The battalion chief says there were no other injuries.