Morton Grove crash: Pavel Maletskyi faces felony charges after bystanders rescue him from car hit by Amtrak train on Lehigh Avenue

MORTON GROVE, Ill. (WLS) — A man has been arrested and charged with vehicular manslaughter after a car accident resulted in the car that was hit by the train Thursday night on the northern outskirts.

Witnesses told ABC7 that the Amtrak train collided with the car moments after a group of Good Samaritans helped the driver out of his car, which was stuck on the tracks in Morton Grove. However, when the police arrived at the scene, the driver was arrested.

Morton Grove police say Maleki was driving drunk. A Mount Prospect man was arrested and charged with DUI.

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On Friday, the wreckage of the accident was removed from the tracks, but witness David Murphy still does not know about the tragedy in Morton Grove

“He didn’t slow down. He didn’t stop,” said witness David Murphy. “I mean, I don’t think it could.”

Murphy had just gotten off a Metra train on his way home Thursday night.

“He just went right through the car,” Murphy said. “I was probably one of the first people in that group, and a car crossed right in front of us, not at the intersection, but across the grass, on the track, and it kind of overturned parallel to the path going south. “

Police said Pavel Maletsky, 56, was driving when he hit a parked car on nearby Lehigh Avenue before careening into the tracks, causing his Acura to malfunction.

“When we got close to the car, he was still there trying to mess with it on the southbound track,” Murphy said. “So we started yelling at him, ‘You’ve got to get out of the car.’ One of the Metra passengers grabbed him and helped him off the tracks.”

Minutes after Malecki was pulled to safety, he spoke with police officers who had initially responded to a reckless driving complaint.

“The first Amtrak train that came through was moving pretty fast,” Murphy said. “I mean, I don’t know how fast Amtrak goes. It felt like 50 to 60 miles an hour and hit the car.”

Fortunately, no one else was in the car when the Amtrak train split the car in half.

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The police reported that Maletsky is no longer in custody. He is scheduled to appear in court in Skokie in December.

“He’s going to have other things to deal with, but he’ll be able to see you another day,” Murphy said.