Recently the Chicago Department of Transportation, with community input from local residents, has installed bike lanes on many Northwest Side streets. One of them was Wrightwood Avenue (2600 W.), a popular residential east-west cycling route.
But tragically on Monday night a 43-year-old man was critically injured on the Wrightwood bike route when he was struck by a driver at Pulaski Road (4000 W.), a busy retail street, in the northwest corner of the Logan Square community. The motorist has not been ticketed.
According to the initial Chicago Police Department report, on Monday, June 6, around 11:30 p.m., the bike rider was cycling west on Wrightwood. The motorist was driving south on Pulaski when the two vehicles collided at the intersection.
According to the police, the cycling suffered blunt force trauma to his head and body and was taken by the Chicago Fire Department to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition.
The driver was not injured or cited
According to the traffic crash report the driver, who lives about a mile from the crash site, told responding officers that the bike rider was running a red light when the motorist struck him. However, it’s unclear from the police statement and the crash report whether this claim is true.
The report mentions that there are several businesses in the area that have security cameras that may have captured the incident.
The report specifies that the victim had “injuries to the chest, pelvis, ankle, and head.” Hopefully he will fully recover from his injuries.
And hopefully the CPD Major Accidents’ investigation of the camera footage will help clarify what really happened during this tragic event.
