A 14-Year-Old Was Injured in a Building Strike Accident at Fontano’s in Hinsdale

The Hinsdale community is sending its prayers to multiple families today after a Jeep crashed through Fontano Subs & Deli on Lincoln Street. The incident is under investigation, but it appears that the Jeep had been going through Fuller’s Carwash across the street, and then just kept going. Ultimately, the vehicle crashed into the sub shop. 

According to CBS News, five people were injured: four sub ship customers, plus a 14-year-old boy who was at the car wash. Dominic Fontano, owner of the sub shop, said the boy “was across the street – I think with his mom or somebody – getting the car washed, and the car that lost control actually carried him all the way to here.” ABC News is reporting that while one customer was treated at the scene, the other four suffered more serious injuries. Per their report, the young boy “ended up on the hood of the Jeep… before falling under the vehicle. The teenager was flown to Comer Children’s Hospital after suffering critical injuries.”  

We’re literally sick over this story. Any time someone gets hurt it’s awful, but there’s something especially awful about this – people just going about their day, and all of a sudden tragedy strikes. That one of the victims is a child makes it immeasurably worse. We really, really hope everyone makes a full recovery, and our thoughts are with the families. 

Why building strike crashes are so strange 

If you’re into action movies, vehicles crashing into buildings is pretty par for the course, right? Same thing if you’re into “fail” videos on YouTube: there’s always some car smashing (or ever-so-slowly rolling) into plate glass windows or people’s houses. We’ve talked about building strikes before (that crash at the Culver’s on Dempster Street in Morton Grove, a truck crash into a residential building on 184th in Lansing) so we know that “car incursion” accidents are more common than people realize. 

We also know that there’s something, well, weird about building strikes.  

Think about it: in a “typical” car accident, you have two or more vehicles – sometimes motorcycle riders, cyclists, and/or pedestrians – that collide, right? So in most cases, you’re dealing with two or more moving people or vehicles, or some kind of blind spot issue. But a car incursion means a driver hit a building – a massive, immovable object that was already in place.  

It’s not like you can say “I didn’t see it.” How could you not see it? It’s a building. And in this case, there wasn’t some high-speed collision that sent a vehicle spinning off into a house or shop.  

So, that leaves a few options, really, about what could’ve happened.*  

• Pedal confusion. It’s the leading cause of building and pedestrian strikes. You think you’re hitting the brake and you actually hit the gas. The most recent data we could find – from 2015 – said there are about 16,000 incidents each year involving pedal errors.  
• Defective part. A sticky brake pad or a loose electrical wire, perhaps an issue with the power steering or the fuel line: it’s possible a defective auto part caused the driver to accelerate unintentionally, or to be unable to stop or steer. The car had just existed a car wash, after all; perhaps some water or soap got into a place it shouldn’t have been. 
• Poor road conditions. It’s mid-July in Chicagoland, which means there’s no ice or freezing rain, but a car wash is still a wet and slippery place. And if the driver hydroplaned and then panicked, it’s possible that they could’ve hit a building across the street.  
• Medical emergency. The driver was uninjured, per the news reports, but medical emergencies can and do happen. If the driver passed out, had a mini-stroke, or suffered some other medical event, they could’ve crashed the vehicle unintentionally.  
• Driver negligence. It’s always a possibility that the driver simply wasn’t paying attention. It might explain why they hit the 14-year-old, too.  

*Note: this is pure speculation. The police haven’t issued a report so we can’t say for sure any of these may be the cause. 

What happens now? 

Well, that depends. The folks who were hurt (and the family of the child) should call a lawyer soon, but it’s probably the last thing on their minds. The collision was caught on surveillance camera so that actually works to their benefit: it means that helpful evidence will remain even after Fontano’s fixes up its building.  

But there’s a reason why we say they should call an attorney, and it has to do with establishing liability. See, it’s easy to assume that the driver is completely at fault, but that may not be the case. If it turns out that there was a defective auto part, then the manufacturer (in this case, that means Chrysler) could be liable – especially if they knew there was a risk and didn’t take any steps to mitigate it. 

It’s also possible that one – or both – of the building owners could share some liability. If there’s something wonky about the parking lot or the car wash building, and whatever that… thing is contributed in some way to the crash, then it’s possible that Fuller’s could be named in a lawsuit. 

The truth is, we don’t know what happens now because we don’t know what led to the building strike. What we do know is that the next few days will be critical for the boy who was hurt, because child injuries can easily compound over time. We’re really hoping that none of those injuries prove permanent, and that he, along with the other victims, makes a full recovery. 

Gainsberg Injury and Accident Lawyers is a Chicago-based personal injury law firm that serves all of Illinois. If you or a loved one was injured in any type of crash or collision, we want to help. Please call us or fill out our contact form to schedule a free consultation.