Text-messaging blamed for crash

Text-messaging was blamed for a car crash early Thursday in Wicker Park.

A northbound Jeep slammed into a parked Toyota Yaris just before 4:30 a.m. in the 1300 block of North Milwaukee, and the momentum carried both vehicles into a building under construction and a parking meter, Shakespeare District Police Capt. Marc Buslik said.

He said the driver -- 25-year-old Jessica Flanagan -- told officers she wasn't paying attention because she was reading a text message on her cell phone.

The North Side woman was cited for using a mobile phone while driving and failing to stay in her lane, Buslik said.

Photo: Cherron Russell, For the Sun-Times / A Toyota Yaris is on the sidewalk in the 1300 block of Milwaukee Thursday. Police say the Jeep's driver was reading a text message when she hit the parked car. ;