(CREDIT: Google Maps)

A West Chicago driver operating on a suspended license faces multiple charges after crashing his SUV into a St. Charles police car and injuring a police officer.

According to a city of St. Charles news release, the St. Charles officer was on patrol, driving south on Kirk Road at around 11:03 p.m. Tuesday (April 17, 2018), when he saw a Ford Explorer SUV driven by Eugenio Hernandez of West Chicago, 38, traveling north at a high rate of speed.

The officer turned around at Stern Avenue and went north, activating his emergency overhead lights. As the officer’s police car approached the intersection with Ohio Avenue, the Explorer turned in front of the squad car, which was traveling through the intersection with the green light.

Both the officer and Hernandez were taken to Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital for treatment with non-life threatening injuries and have been released.

The Illinois State Police conducted the crash investigation with assistance from St Charles officers.

Hernandez was charged with:

• Driving with a suspended/revoked license.
• Failure to Yield while turning left at an intersection.
• Failed to yield to an emergency vehicle.

The charges are not proof of guilt. The driver is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial where it is the burden of the state to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

SOURCE: city of St. Charles news release