Driver Who Killed Elderly Pedestrian Claims He Didn’t See Him

The crash site, from the driver's perspective.

An elderly pedestrian died early Saturday morning after being struck Thursday in Little Village by an SUV driver who claimed he didn’t see the victim.

David Vega, 84, of the 2800 block of South Lawndale Avenue, was crossing northbound in the east crosswalk at Landale and 26th on Thursday at about 11:25 a.m., according to Officer Daniel O’Brien from Police News Affairs. Edwin Malave, of the 100 block of Tesla Drive in Naperville,  was in a 2003 Jeep Liberty turning eastbound, with the light, onto 26th from the southbound lane of Lawndale when he hit the senior.

Vega was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital after the crash, and then relocated to Schwab Rehabilitation Hospital on Friday. He was pronounced dead on Saturday at 1:50 am, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy conducted the next day found he died of multiple injuries from the collision.

Malave told police he didn’t see Vega, his Jeep hit a patch of ice, and he was unable to stop in time to avoid the crash, according to police. The driver was cited for failure to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the roadway.

Fatality Tracker: 2014 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths

Pedestrian: 2 (1 was from a hit-and-run crash, 0 in semi- and box truck crashes)
Bicyclist: 0