The Chicagoist will be launching later but in the meantime please enjoy our archives.

Reported Drunk Driver Crashes Car Near Tribune Tower

By Jon Graef in News on Mar 29, 2014 6:30PM

Imagine a drunk driver right at your door. That's the startling surprise a Tribune Tower doorman got at work early Saturday morning when a Beige Lexus crashed into a concrete wall outside the news building.

The crash happened at 4:30 a.m.

Incredibly, the driver, who, according to the doorman, appeared to be a man in his thirties reportedly walked into the Tribune Tower's lobby and "assured staffers he wasn't hurt."

Because it wasn't as if he could have injured anyone else by doing something as safe and sound of mind as driving drunk.

According to the Tribune, the driver "grabbed his keys and walked away northbound after telling the doorman he didn't want to see the police because he 'was drunk.'"

The Tribune's Rosemary Regina Sobol breaks down the details:

The Lexus was northbound on the east side of Michigan when its passenger side front end slammed into the corner of a concrete wall surrounding stairs leading to lower Michigan Avenue, leaving one corner of the wall crumbled. Shattered glass and pieces of the car’s front end scattered about.

Once on the sidewalk, it traveled in an arc, narrowly missing a fire hydrant, two trash receptacles, and the Tribune building itself before coming to rest, with its airbags deployed.

Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Ronald Gaines told the Tribune there were no reported injuries. Though the driver has yet to be apprehended, police towed the driver's car. Hopefully, good conscious will reign and the driver will turn himself in.

Listen to WGN Radio talk about the crash, which happened while host Matt Bubala was on the air, here.

"The driver flew past the studio, striking a light pole, before weaving around fire hydrants and coming to a rest right outside the doors of Tribune Tower," a post from WGN Radio's blog reads.

Police arrived at the scene almost an hour later, and a tow truck removed the vehicle by 5:15 a.m. Police left the scene a little before 5:45 a.m.