CHICAGO (WLS) — A woman is recovering after a chunk of concrete fell off an overpass and hit her windshield. It happened Friday on I-55 at Pulaski.
The drive was hospitalized with multiple lacerations to her face, neck and hands, and her family says she is traumatized and lucky to be alive.
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Relatives of 53-year-old Oksana Kovalchuk shared images. of the damage with ABC7.
They say a two-foot-long chunk of concrete crashed through the windshield of her Lexus SUV and broke into three parts.
It happening Friday around mid-afternoon as she was driving northbound on I-55.
Illinois State Police confirmed the debris came from the Pulaski overpass, and it fell and hit the vehicle.
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Kovalchuk’s daughter, Viktoriya Petriv, says it missed her mother’s head by a couple of inches.
“She had pieces of glass in her hair, pieces of glass in her ears, in her mouth, in her nose, in her back, everywhere all over her,” Petriv said. “It’s just horrifying that it could happen, that it happened to us. It could happen to anyone. It could happen again tonight, tomorrow to someone.”
Kovalchuk, who lives in Justice, was taken to St. Anthony Hospital after relatives say another driver saw what happened, pulled over, and called 911.
State police said one lane of I-55 traffic was blocked for about a half hour.
The family is speaking out as a warning to others and is seeking answers as to how this could have happened.
ABC7 has left a message for IDOT for more information about the incident.
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