Man fatally struck at Chatham bus stop is 2nd pedestrian killed at 79th/King in 2 months

Tragically, there were two pedestrian fatalities in Chicago last weekend. Early Saturday morning an allegedly drunk driver struck and killed Luis Martinez Ortiz, 54, as he crossed 51st Street at Sawyer Avenue in Gage Park. And on Sunday morning a reckless driver struck a 57-year-old man at a bus stop at 79th Street and King Drive in Chatham and injured three other people.

This was the second pedestrian fatality at 79th/King in two months. On September 12, a hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Eric Ray, 59, at this intersection.

And this was at least the fourth case of people being critically injured or killed by a driver at a Chicago bus stop this year.

According to police, on Sunday, October 23, at about 11:15 a.m., a 32-year-old man was driving north on King at 79th when he struck the bus shelter at the northeast corner of the intersection. The 57-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. The Cook County medical examiner's office has not released his identity.

In addition, a 64-year-old woman and a 23-year-old woman, plus a male of unknown age, were taken to the University of Chicago Hospitals in unknown conditions, police said.

The motorist was arrested and charged one misdemeanor count of driving on a revoked license and one misdemeanor count of driving an uninsured vehicle in a crash resulting in bodily harm. He was also cited for negligent driving and driving on the sidewalk.

According to a report by ABC Chicago, the man who died was well-known in Chatham and spent time nearly every day at the bus stop. "Everybody loved him around the neighborhood," said Shawn Caples a friend of the man who witnessed the collision. "He was a cool guy."

Caples described the crash to ABC. "I just looked out the window and seen him come into the pavement. God must've told me, 'Stay in the house,' because it could've been me."

The collision was captured by a surveillance camera.

According to data from Streetsblog Chicago cofounder Steven Vance's Chicago Crash Browser, in addition to the Eric Ray case, there were two other pedestrian injury crashes at 79th/King this month. Within 250 of the intersection center, there have been 13 total pedestrian crashes since September 2017 (when the Chicago Police Department started using electronic crash reporting citywide.) Four of those collisions were hit-and-run crashes.

Drivers seriously injuring and killing people at CTA bus stops is disturbingly common in Chicago. Here’s a list of recent fatality cases. In addition, on August 26 a driver struck another car and then hit a bus shelter at 63rd and Halsted streets in Englewood, injuring seven people, including two people on foot who were hospitalized critical conditions, including at least one reported dismemberment of a limb.

• In August 2022, Angela Short, 14, was standing at a bus stop when she was killed after a Mercedes driver ran a red at 79th Street and Racine Avenue in Auburn Gresham, striking a Jeep, which careened onto the sidewalk. Three other people were injured in the crash.
• In May 2022, a BMW driver fatally struck Concepcion Lopez, 82 while she waited for CTA bus in a shelter on the 2100 block of West Peterson Avenue in the West Ridge neighborhood.
• In December 2021, a 68-year-old woman was standing at a bus stop at 75th Street and St. Lawrence Avenue in Grand Crossing when a Jeep driver ran a red, struck another vehicle, and veered onto the sidewalk, pinning the senior against a building and killing her.
• In September 2021, a 52-year-old woman was killed while waiting for a bus in at 81st Street and Racine Avenue in Auburn Gresham, by a hit-and-run driver who ran a red and struck another vehicle.
• In August 2019, Myrna Logan, 81, and several other people were standing at a bus stop at Fullerton and Cicero Avenues when a driver struck them, killing Logan and injuring several others.
• Also in August 2019, an SUV driver slammed into a bus shelter at 61st Street and King Drive Woodlawn, killing Beverly Barney, 59, and injuring a 60-year-old woman.
• In June 2019, a police chase in Jeffery Manor ended with the death of Michael Jordan, 27, who was sitting in a CTA bus shelter on the 9900 block of South Van Vlissingen Road when the fleeing driver struck him.
• In April 2018, a speeding SUV driver struck and killed Janice M. Gilmore, 67, while she was waiting for a CTA bus at a shelter on Stony Island Avenue near 95th Street in South Deering, and injured five other people.

Fatality Tracker: 2022 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets (including one scooter-on-sidewalk case)

Pedestrian: 26
Bicyclist: 8

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 October 23, 2022, a driver struck a bus shelter at 79th Street and King Drive in Chatham, killing an 57-year-old man and injuring three other people.
• On October 22, 2022, an allegedly drunk driver struck and killed Luis Martinez Ortiz, 54, as he crossed 51st Street at Sawyer Avenue in Gage Park.
• On September 12, 2022, a hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Eric Ray, 59, at 79th and Martin Luther King Drive in the Chatham neighborhood.
• On August 28, 2022, Shawman Meireis was fatally struck by a Corvette driver racing another motorist in a Corvette at 65th Street and Cicero Avenue in the Clearing neighborhood.
• On August 10, 2022, Taha Khan, 5, died after he was struck by a hit-and-run Jeep SUV driver at Devon and Cicero avenues in the Sauganash neighborhood, and then hit by a Volvo driver.
• On August 5, 2022, Angela Short, 14, was standing at a bus stop when she was killed after a Mercedes driver ran a red at 79th Street and Racine Avenue in Auburn Gresham, striking a Jeep, which careened onto the sidewalk. Three other people were injured in the crash.
• On August 2, 2022, Lawrence Ware, 52, died after he was crossing the street in the 4000 block of West 5th Avenue in West Garfield Park when a hit-and-run driver struck him, and another motorist ran over him.
• On July 30, 2022, a driver struck and killed Octavio Bahena Urquiza, 38, on the 4500 block of West Diversey Avenue and fled the scene.
• On July 4, 2022, a Jeep driver reportedly struck and killed a man on the 3200 block of South Pulaski Road in Little Village and fled the scene.
• On June 16, 2022, a hit-and-run driver struck and killed a Ja’lon James, 11, as he crossed the street in the 3300 block of West 16th Street in North Lawndale.
• On June 12, 2022, a distracted Nissan Altima sedan driver fatally struck Peter Paquette, 75, at Irving Park Road and Hoyne Avenue in North Center.
• 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 Honda sedan driver fatally struck Wilberto Rivera, 76, as he crossed North Avenue at Albany Avenue. He died from his injuries two weeks later on June 11.
• 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 17, 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 September 8, 2022, Samuel Bell, 44, was riding an e-bike southeast on the 700 block of North Milwaukee in River West when an elederly Hyundai Elantra sedan driver made a left turn onto Huron Street, fatally striking Bell.
• On August 27, 2022, an SUV driver ran a stop sign and fatally struck Fengan Yan, 55, at 26th Street and Stewart Avenue in the Armour Square community.
• On August 11, 2022, a van driver struck and killed Pablo Rodriguez, 55, near 99th Street and Avenue L in the East Side community and fled the scene.
• On June 24, 2022, a cargo van driver fatally struck Joshua Avina-Luna, 15, near 62nd Street and Austin Avenue in the Clearing neighborhood
• 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.