What began as a routine trip to O’Hare International Airport on Sunday ended when a mini-van jumped a curb and killed a 22-year-old Deerfield man.
George Brinkman, 68, of Elgin, was charged Sunday with negligent driving and striking a pedestrian on the sidewalk, police said. Both offenses are misdemeanors.
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David Simon of Deerfield was killed, and four others, including Brinkman, who is Elgin’s city inspector, sustained injuries ranging from bumps and bruises to fractures.
“(Brinkman) was really shaken by what happened,” said one officer. “He knows someone was killed, and he felt really bad.”
Because of Sunday’s accident, traffic experts, officials from the Chicago Department of Aviation and the Chicago Police Department are scheduled to meet Monday to discuss what can be done to prevent the recurrence of such accidents, the second at O’Hare in less than a year.
According to police, Brinkman’s son-in-law, John Burke, drove the van to the airport. Burke and other family members got out, and Brinkman moved to the driver’s seat to park the van in the main parking lot.
Brinkman accelerated to merge left into traffic, but the van did not move because the tires were turned into the curb, police said.
“He pushed on the accelerator some more and the van just jumped the curb,” said a major traffic investigator who reviewed the accident. “This would explain the revving of the engine that witnesses heard. From there, he just apparently lost control.”
The mini-van then clipped the door of the car parked in front of it as Brinkman drove down the sidewalk trying to gain control of the van, police said.
Seconds later, Brinkman struck Simon, carrying him about 110 feet before side-swiping a parked car and knocking Simon off the hood, police at the airport said.
Brinkman then careened into 66-year-old Paul Steinmiller of Pittsburgh and his granddaughter, both of whom were standing on the sidewalk, before he ran into the back of a parked limousine. His air bag opened and the van stopped, police said.
Simon died in Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge of traumatic stress from extensive injuries and severe bleeding, said spokeswoman Alice Brown. Steinmiller was in fair condition Sunday night in Lutheran General with multiple fractures to his legs.
Stephanie Steinmiller, 36, of Hoffman Estates was listed in good condition with a fractured leg in Resurrection Medical Center, a spokeswoman said. Lora Schwarz, 40, of Palatine, who was sitting in the car Brinkman side-swiped, was treated and released.
A 30-year-old Chicago firefighter sustained back injuries while helping victims.
“(Brinkman) told us that he doesn’t know exactly what happened, but he remembers hitting a pedestrian and then some cars before his air bag popped out, but that’s all he can remember,” a major traffic investigator said.
Under questioning, police said, Brinkman told them he had driven the mini-van six or seven times and that it was about seven months old.
Brinkman and his family declined to comment as they were ushered into the O’Hare police station for questioning Sunday. Brinkman turned over his license as bond and was released.
The van, which belonged to Burke, is being held in the police pound to be checked for any mechanical problems, major traffic investigators said.
John Ahrens, a baggage handler for United Airlines in Terminal 1, was helping a woman with her bags when the accident occurred.
“I heard the engine revving as I was tagging this woman’s bag, because the van was only about 10 feet away,” Ahrens said, adding that just as the woman’s husband got out of the car, the van jumped the curb. “I just pulled the lady backward toward the terminal doors.
“Thank God (Brinkman) didn’t keep going forward, because I had no place else to go,” Ahrens said.
A preliminary check of Brinkman’s license turned up no traffic citations, police said. A more thorough check would be conducted.
Lisa Howard, spokeswoman for the Aviation Department, said one possibility would be to install railings along the sidewalk where pedestrians enter and leave the terminals.
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The problem, she said, is the rails may create delays.
“But at the same time, we want to ensure the safety of all our passengers and visitors to the airport,” she said, “so more studies will have to be done.”
Eleven months ago, 87-year-old Martin Horvath plowed through a group of pedestrians and schoolchildren at the airport, killing a 9-year-old girl.