An injured off-duty Lockport police officer was being questioned about a fatal three-car accident on the Stevenson Expressway that killed an immigrant from Vietnam driving home from his second job.Alcohol may have played a role in the crash, according to a source. The 34-year-old officer was given a blood alcohol test and was admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital in good condition, the source said. Representatives of the state's attorney's office were there to consider charges, state police said.
The Lockport Police Department confirmed one of its officers was injured in the accident. It extended condolences to the family of Man K. Wong, who was killed.
Wong, who went by Mike, was driving home from his second job at a South Side restaurant about 9:30 p.m. Sunday when another car lost control and swerved across the median into the northbound lanes of the Stevenson Expressway just west of Cicero Avenue, state police said.
All lanes of inbound I-55 were closed for about five hours while officials made measurements and took photographs.
Wong was pronounced dead at 10:16 p.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Wong installed computer software for a living during the week but took a second job at Ing's Palace weekends. His brother said Wong usually worked seven days a week.
"He took care of his family," John Wong, 27, said.
His brother immigrated from Vietnam in 1990, attended Northeastern Illinois University and loved to travel, run and play basketball, Wong said.
Wong was Chinese-American and was born in Vietnam, according to his aunt, Betty Wong. He had lived in Chinatown with his wife and mother.
Relatives said his wife, Yan Zhang, didn't know about the crash and an uncle was planning to pick her up at work and tell her later today.
Wong, was upset that the crash involved a police officer. "A police officer," she said in a strained voice, pausing. "What can I say?
"How would you feel if it was your family member who walked out the door and never came back home?" she said.
Wong's friend David Chen, 35, said Wong's father was dead and he had taken care of his mother. "He's a family person," Chen said. "He always took care of his family, especially his mom."
-- Deanese Williams-Harris, Angie Leventis and Pat Curry
