A cyclist was hospitalized in critical condition after a semi-truck driver struck him before fleeing on Friday morning in Chicago.
Around 6:50 a.m., the 37-year-old man was biking northbound on the 6400 block of South Kedzie Avenue when he attempted to turn left and was struck by the driver of a semi-truck heading south, authorities said.
The driver of the semi-truck fled the scene after striking him, authorities said.
The man sustained a head injury and was transported to a local hospital after the incident, where he was initially listed in critical condition, authorities said.
An investigation into the hit-and-run remains ongoing, according to police, and no one is in custody.
Neighbors drew attention to several crashes that have occurred over the years in the area and what they described as frequent dangerous speeding after 18-year-old Damian Gomez was struck and killed while cycling just one block north in April. Gomez was struck on the 6300 block of South Kedzie by a still unidentified man who was speeding in a red SUV eastbound on West 63rd Street and ran a red light before striking him.
After the man hit Gomez, he crashed into a silver vehicle that was traveling southbound on South Kedzie Avenue with a solid green light before slamming into a pole and fleeing the scene on foot, police said.
Surveillance video captured the moment the unidentified driver ran off after the crash, leaving behind Gomez and a critically injured woman who was a passenger in the car he was driving.
Dozens gathered for the vigil with signs calling for justice for Damian Gomez at the busy intersection where neighbors say several crashes have occurred over the years.
Neighbors rallied to bring attention to dangerous driving in the area at a vigil for Gomez, who was on his way home from working as a food delivery driver when he was killed.
Marco Gonzalez, a man who attended Gomez’ vigil and told NBC Chicago he moved to Chicago from Mexico City in search of a better life, was struck while waiting for a bus near where both the 37-year-old cyclist and Gomez were struck.
Just before 1 p.m. in early March, Gonzalez was waiting at a bus stop on South Kedzie Avenue near 61st Street when a 29-year-old woman driving an uninsured Jeep Compass northbound on South Kedzie Avenue veered onto the sidewalk and crashed into Gonzalez and the bus stop he was waiting at.
A man who was run over while waiting at a bus stop in Chicago speaks out as nearby residents call attention to dangerous driving in the area after a recent deadly hit-and-run. JC Navarrete reports.
Gonzalez said he had been waiting at the bus stop for just two minutes before he was struck. The impact of the crash left Gonzalez lying in the street in pain, the front end of the Jeep Compass wrapped around a pole and the bus stop in ruin, with shattered glass and debris scattered around. His skull and two two vertebrae were fractured and his ribs broken in the crash, he said. He spent 10 days in the hospital.
The driver, who initially fled the scene but later returned, was cited for failure to reduce speed, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, possessing a firearm with a revoked FOID card and for leaving the scene.
