WAUKEGAN — Rescuers who responded to a report of a car crashing through the wall of a home on Grove Avenue early Thursday came upon a scene where a young man had been killed almost instantly from head and chest injuries.

But police and fire crews also expressed wonder that the accident produced only minor injuries to three other people, including a 78-year-old woman who was thrown from her bed as the car plowed through two rooms in her house.

"We were kind of surprised when we got her to the ambulance and checked her over," said Assistant Fire Chief Dan Young. "She had the usual scrapes and bumps and bruises you'd expect, but otherwise she was all right."

Like the homeowner, two female passengers in the 2005 Mitsubishi Evolution were also treated and released after being transported to Victory Memorial Hospital. But the driver of the car, 23-year-old Ian A. Cook of Waukegan, was pronounced dead at the scene by Lake County Coroner officials.


"There was pretty serious damage to the car," said Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Newton, who noted that the vehicle's airbags deployed. "But the majority of the damage and the intrusion (by building material) was on the driver's side."

According to Waukegan police, Cook was at the wheel of the Mitsubishi around 1:15 a.m. as it headed southbound on Glenwood Avenue, which curves to the west into Grove. Cmdr. Mark Stevenson said it appears Cook was dropping off a passenger who lives in the neighborhood northwest of Glen Flora and Lewis avenues.

Stevenson said that while the investigation into the accident is ongoing, preliminary findings are that the Mitsubishi was moving at a high rate of speed when it went into the curve.

"We don't know if he was showing off or if he didn't know the curve was there, but he lost control and veered off the street into the house," Stevenson said.

The car broke straight through the brick wall of a home on the 2200 block of Grove, and Young said its momentum took it through an empty bedroom and a set of closets before entering the bedroom where the woman was sleeping with her pet dog.

"She was thrown from the bed, and the (crash) actually made an area where she was surrounded by bedding and material from the closet," Young said. "It actually protected her from further damage."

Young said firefighters still had to cut through a nearby wall to free the woman from the wreckage. Her dog reportedly was unhurt.

Stevenson said investigators are awaiting a routine toxicology report from the coroner's office to determine if drugs or alcohol played a part in the accident.