A Chicago man who was nearly killed in a hit-and-run crash while walking to get lunch on Michigan Avenue is sharing his story as police continue to search for the driver responsible.
With his arm still in a sling and a walker by his side a little more than a month after the crash, Derek Krueger told NBC Chicago the trauma of what happened replays in his head every day.
“I’m always fearful now,” he said. “It’s not something I want or should have to feel living here.”
Krueger, a lab manager at Northwestern Hospital, said he was on his lunch break when he was hit by an SUV in early March. The driver kept going and left him in the middle of the street. Police said the driver was turning left on southbound Michigan Avenue as Krueger was in the crosswalk.
“The sad part was that people were actually walking around me and over me and somebody who was here on vacation for a work conference was the actual person who stopped and helped me,” he said.
The 44-year-old spent a week in the hospital with critical injuries and underwent two surgeries for internal bleeding, fractured bones in his shoulder and hip.
Krueger can’t believe the person who did this to him is still out there.
“My honest opinion is disgusted that you know they don’t have the decency to come forward,” he said.
Krueger told NBC Chicago the vehicle involved was a dark green Chevy Equinox. Detectives told him it was captured on surveillance video throughout Streeterville with no front or rear license plate. Police still haven’t been able to identify the driver.
“It’s sending them [criminals] a message that I can get away with it you know and that’s unfortunate because you shouldn’t be able to get away with it not at all,” he said.
His case is now among hundreds waiting to be solved. Data from the city shows there were more than 112,000 traffic crashes in 2024. 130 people were killed in those crashes, 45 of them pedestrians.
As for Krueger’s case, he pleads for the driver to come forward and said he fears it’s only a matter of time before someone else is hurt.
“If you done it once and you gotten away with it, who’s to say it won’t happen again,” he said. “Unfortunately, the next person may not be so lucky and that’s what scares me.”
Area Three detectives are still investigating.
