Police are searching for the driver of an SUV who fatally struck a 23-year-old man on the Near North Side early Sunday morning and sped away from the crash site.
On Sunday at about 4 a.m. Phillip Levato was walking in the intersection of Chicago Avenue and LaSalle Street, according to police. There he was struck by the driver of a southbound white 2016 Jeep Compass with Indiana license plate BU3440, police said. The motorist continued south without stopping to render aid.
Levato, of the 1300 block of West 32nd Place in Bridgeport, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and pronounced dead at 4:35 a.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Police have said they do not believe Levato was intentionally struck. They're asking ask anyone with information about the crash to call Major Accidents at 312-745-4521.
Nearby resident Annette Elmore told WGN near-crashes are common at this intersection. “If you're not careful, the cars here are speeding so fast, they'll run you over flat,” she said. “People come whipping around this corner and aren't looking at the pedestrians.”
Fatality Tracker: 2016 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths
Pedestrian: 20 (nine were hit-and-run crashes)*
Bicyclist: 6 (one was a hit-and-run crash)
*Streetsblog Chicago’s fatality tracker is based on news reports. On November 2, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced that there had been 29 pedestrian fatalities in the city as of September 30, according to preliminary police data. CDOT has not released data on the number of hit-and-run pedestrian crashes.
