Chicago, IL–(ENEWSPF)–
Icy conditions are being blamed for an accident that killed a Chicago police sergeant as he headed south on Lake Shore Drive this morning, answering a call about a burglary, police say.
Alan Haymaker, 56, was on his way to the scene of a burglary at an electronics firm and was taking the Irving Park exit when he lost control around 5 a.m. and hit a pole and tree, pinning him in his squad car, said Asst. Police Supt. James Jackson.
"Icy road conditions were a factor,” Jackson said. "Words cannot express the sorrow we feel at his loss."
He had been assigned to the Town Hall District since 2009 and had been on the force for 21 years, police said. His grandfather, father and uncle were also Chicago police officers.
Haymaker was pronounced dead at 7:33 a.m. at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Outside the hospital, at about 9:45 a.m., about two dozen officers saluted as Haymaker’s body was carried out to Ambulance No. 6, followed by his three daughters and a son-in-law.
The ambulance was escorted to the morgue by about a dozen unmarked police cars carrying executive staff and commanders who had worked with him over the years.
