Update 8/20/24, 9:00 AM: Tragically, Joey Center has died from his injuries, according to an August 19 Chicago Tribune report.
Yesterday, Streetsblog Chicago discussed three bike crashes resulting in serious or fatal injuries this month in the northern suburbs. All of them involved bike routes crossing large, Illinois Department of Transportation-controlled roads. Two of them that took place last Wednesday, July 24, were in, or on the border of, the village of Skokie.
One of those two cases happened at Skokie Boulevard and Gross Point Road in northwest Skokie. The local police department stated that a 27-year-old man was biking when "he was hit by a vehicle in the intersection," ABC Chicago reported. The victim was transported to Evanston Hospital in "critical but stable" condition. The driver stayed on the scene, and ABC did not have info on whether there were charges or citations.
Today Streetsblog got an update about that bike rider's condition, and more information about what reportedly happened, from a friend of the victim, who identified the bike rider as Joey Center. The friend, Lori Coutts, said Center is a talented guitarist, who works at the Jewel-Osco grocery store near the crash site.
She added that she got to know Center through her husband Mark, who bonded with the young man over their mutual love of music. Last year Mark Coutts filmed Center performing at a benefit for Arts of Life, a nonprofit "providing artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a collective space to expand their practice and strengthen their leadership." The two men were planning to form a band together.
According to Lauri Coutts, one of Center's coworkers said the young man was leaving work by bike Wednesday around 7 p.m. Wednesday. As he pulled out of the grocery store's parking lot, a sedan driver leaving the lot of an Old Navy clothing store just west of the Jewel struck the cyclist. Center had no ID on him at the time, but a witness who called 911 entered the supermarket and talked to employees who identified him.
A video of the aftermath of the crash posted via the Citizen app shows Center's bike on the south sidewalk of Gross Point Road, just east of Skokie Boulevard.
Lauri Coutts said Center is still at the hospital in a coma, with a brain bleed. Her husband Mark recently posted on Facebook, "Our hearts are heavy with worry...Please send any and all positive energy you may have in his direction. He needs it now."
View a video of the aftermath of the crash here.
Watch a video of Center playing guitar at a benefit concert for Arts of Life here.
Did you appreciate this post? Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support Streetsblog Chicago's paywall-free sustainable transportation reporting and advocacy.
