Content warning: This post includes a description of a child fatality crash. This is a developing story. We will update the post as more information becomes available.
Update 6/10/22, 8:30 AM:
The girl has been identified as Elizabeth Grace Shambrook, called Lily or Lily Grace by her family.
Lily's father, who was following his wife and their child on another bike, spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times to confirm that the initial CPD narrative that the mother "lost control and collided with the truck's cab" was inaccurate. In reality, the Mondelez semi driver clipped the woman's bike. The father also confirmed that the driver of the illegally parked ComEd truck contributed to the crash by blocking the bike lane, forcing the mother to "squeeze around" the ComEd vehicle. We'll have more info posted on Streetsblog soon.
The father contacted Streetsblog to say that he appreciated words of support from our readers. "Your commenters are right there is more to the story... We are devastated at the loss of our sweet little girl."
The sustainable transportation advocacy group Better Street Chicago provided this statement.
Today's tragic killing of a 3 year old on a bike ride with her mother was preventable. It occurred on what the city designates as a greenway, one that even had a Slow Street treatment last year – which was removed because of driver complaints and "winter."
Enough with the excuses. Enough with the inaction. Enough with the paint and plastic posts. We cannot continue to accept one of the top causes of childhood death as normal. Every day that the city continues to ignore the gruesome reality on our streets, the longer they enable it to go on. The time for concrete and holistic infrastructure is yesterday.
Update 6/9/22, 11:15 AM: CPD released a statement on the case: "The victim, a 3-year-old female, was on the back of a bicycle being operated by an adult female. As they were traveling in the same direction as a semi truck at the above location, the bicyclist lost control and collided with the truck’s cab. The bike then fell to the ground, and the 3-year-old was struck by the truck [driver]. The victim was transported to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced. No other injuries were reported. MAIU is on scene investigating." According to a post on Twitter from a person who witnessed the aftermath of the crash, the trucker and bike rider were heading east.
It's not clear who reported that the mother "lost control and collided with the truck's cab." It's common for initial police reports of crashes involving bike riders and large vehicle drivers to inaccurately claim the collision was caused by cyclist error, when in reality the driver was at fault.
Details are still emerging from a truck-bike crash that took the life of a female toddler riding on the back of her mother's bicycle this morning at Leland (4700 N.) and Winthrop (1100 W.) avenues in Uptown, on the bike-priority Leland Neighborhood Greenway route. Fox News reported at 10:25 a.m. that the child died but the mother was uninjured, but has little additional info.
A Streetsblog reader who happened upon the crash scene alerted us at 8:32 a.m. this morning. Police News Affairs had little info on the case, but said police received a 911 call at about 8:18 a.m.
As of 9:30 a.m., the crash scene was roped off with caution tape, and multiple police officers, including members of the Major Accidents Investigation Unit who were collecting evidence, were on the scene. Officers declined to comment on the case, referring Streetsblog to News Affairs, which as of 10:15 a.m., had no further information.
At the scene, a badly damaged white bicycle with straight handlebars and narrow tires lay under a ComEd truck at the southwest corner of Leland/Winthrop. A large Mondelez semi truck, apparently used for delivering food, stood in the east leg of the intersection.
At the southeast corner, a child's bicycle seat lay in the street. An undamaged red road bicycle with upright bars was leaned against a nearby pole.
The child was the 4th person killed on a bicycle this year on Chicago streets.
Leland is a Neighborhood Greenway route, including pavement markings and speed humps, that runs between Clark Street (1400 W.) and the Lakefront Trail in the 46th Ward. The greenway will be extended west into the 47th Ward later this summer, including a segment of concrete protected bike lanes, a ward staffer told Streetsblog yesterday.
I live right by here, and for some reason, I've seen tons of huge trucks using Leland to cut through for the past few years. It's a quiet street with a daycare! (which, by the way, is right on the corner where this happened). It's insane that they are allowed to use it.
— Notorious BLT (@N0TORIOUS_BLT) June 9, 2022
Last year Leland had a "Slow Street" treatment during the warmer months between Lincoln Avenue (2300 W.) and Sheridan Road (1000 W.), including the blocks where today's crash occurred. That strategy involved the installation of barricades and traffic barrels that further calmed traffic and discouraged non-local car trips, making it safer to walk and bike in the street.
While the treatment was credited with an 85 percent increase in bike traffic on Leland, the Slow Street was dismantled three months early in response to complaints from residents that it was confusing for drivers. It's not clear whether the Slow Street treatment might have made a difference in preventing today's death.
46th Ward alderperson James Cappleman has not yet commented on today's tragedy, but his deputy chief of staff Maggie Gaecke told Streetsblog the ward had already been in talks with the Chicago Department of Transportation about conducting a traffic study on Leland in between Clark and Broadway (1130 W.) with the goal of using ward funding to install further traffic calming. Gaecke said the ward reached out to CDOT after today's fatality to ask if there's anything that can be done to improve safety specifically at Leland/Winthrop.
This is the second serious injury or fatality crash case involving a small child on or near Leland in this part of town within a week. On the evening of Thursday, June 2, an SUV driver fatally struck Raphael "Rafi" Cardenas, 2, after the child rode a mini scooter into the intersection of Eastwood Avenue, half a block south of Leland, and Leavitt Street in Lincoln Square, 1.4 miles west of this morning's crash site.
"Tragedies like Rafi’s death are what drives our approach to infrastructure," 47th Ward alderperson Matt Martin said in a Facebook post following that crash. "Children should be able to walk and roll around their neighborhood safely."
In addition, on April 18 of this year, a left-turning sedan driver fatally struck Yehuala Melkama, 44, as she walked in a crosswalk at Hazel and Sunnyside avenues in Uptown, half a mile southeast of today's crash site.
Fatality Tracker: 2022 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 14
Bicyclist: 4
Note: Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago surface streets, based on media reports and/or preliminary Chicago Police Department data.
2022 Chicago pedestrian fatality cases (including one scooter-on-sidewalk case)
- On June 2, 2022, an SUV driver struck and killed 2-year-old Raphael “Rafi” Cardenas at Eastwood Avenue and Leavitt Street in Lincoln Square as the toddler rode a mini-scooter into the intersection.
- On May 27, 2022, a hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Martha Velazquez, 34, on the 2900 block of West Columbus Avenue in Ashburn.
- On May 19, 2022, a motorcyclist fatally struck Timothy Kast, 46, as he crossed the 5300 block of West Irving Park Road in Portage Park.
- On May 11, 2022, a BMW sedan driver struck and killed 82-year-old Concepcion Lopez, as she waited at a CTA bus stop on the 2100 block of West Peterson in West Ridge.
- On May 10, 2022, a left-turning van driver failed to yield to failed to yield to Berta Arroyo Salgado, 73, as she crossed the street in a crosswalk at Chicago Avenue and Paulina Street in West Town, killing the senior.
- On May 6, 2022, a Cadillac sedan driver ran a red light at Roosevelt Road and Damen Avenue on the Near West Side, struck another vehicle, and careened onto the sidewalk, killing a 33-year-old man.
- On April 18, 2022, a left-turning sedan driver fatally struck Yehuala Melkama, 44, as she walked in a crosswalk at Hazel and Sunnyside avenues in Uptown.
- On March 27, 2022, an SUV driver struck and killed Larry J. Davis, 68, at 3350 S. Kedzie Ave. in Little Village.
- On March 17, 2022, a left-turning driver struck and killed Miriam M. Grande, 70, at Grand and Austin avenues in the Belmont Central neighborhood and fled the scene.
- On March 15, 2022, a car driver fatally struck Allen Lee Jr., 88, as he attempted to cross Western Avenue at 109th Street in Morgan Park.
- On February 8, 2022, a Chicago police officer struck Javion Marquel Johnson, 20, with an SUV after Johnson had been shot multiple times, potentially contributing to his death, at 12111 S. Stewart Avenue in Rosehill.
- On January 20, 2022, a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Richard Haljean, 57, as he crossed Touhy Avenue at Oriole Avenue in Edison Park.
- On January 15, 2022 Angel Thomas, 35, was walking to her car on the 4300 block of West Jackson Boulevard in West Garfield Park when an SUV driver fatally struck her and fled.
- On January 12, 2022, an SUV driver struck and killed Deborah Renee Jones, 67, in the 6800 block of South Stony Island in South Shore.
2022 Chicago bike fatality cases
- On June 9, 2022, a semi truck driver ran over and killed Elizabeth "Lily" Grace Shambrook, 3, riding in a child seat on the back of her mother's bike at Leland and Winthrop avenues in Uptown. The mother was uninjured.
- On May 4, 2022, a Nissan Versa sedan driver fatally struck Nick Parlingayan, 22, on his bike at Milwaukee and Kilbourn avenues in Irving Park.
- On April 16, 2022, an allegedly intoxicated hit-and-run Volkswagen Jetta driver fatally struck Paresh Chhatrala, 42, near Madison and Peoria streets in the West Loop.
- On February 28, 2022, a BMW sedan driver ran a red light at Balbo Drive and DuSable Lake Shore Drive in the Loop, fatally striking Gerardo Marciales, 41, on a Divvy bike.
