Driver Injured After Car Crashes Into Suburban Daycare Center

(CBS) -- A south suburban daycare is closed after a car slammed into the building late Sunday night.

The car crashed into The Playhouse daycare center on Federal and Signal Drive in University Park around 7 p.m. Sunday, busting an entire wall and several windows.

The car crashed into the baby room, which is now tattered in debris. The owner says on a typical weekday there are six babies in the room.

The crash happened at a time when the center is closed, but Michelle Bankston, the Playhouse Daycare owner, said her daughter was there earlier in the day doing her homework and occasionally there are events in the evening. She was in disbelief when she arrived last night.

"I know that there's no windows left. I know that it's taken out part of the ceiling, part of the outside roof. There's insulation and ducts in the ceiling hanging down. The cribs are not damaged at all but there's just glass from the frame in the windows all the way out into the hallway," said Bankston.

The owner says police told her the driver was street racing.

The driver's friend stopped by to look for the wallet, but left empty handed after finding just a shoe next to the boarded up daycare center. He blames the car, not the driver.

"He was not drag racing," the friend said. "Something made the car accelerate and they believe transmission exploded.

He said he has upper body burns. The driver is getting treated at Loyola's burn unit.

"They believe it's chemical burns from the battery," he said.

CBS 2 has reached out to University Park Police. The owner insists police told her the driver was street racing.

The daycare center will be closed for at least one week. Parents have been notified to find alternate child care.