Thankfully, 2024 has been a relatively safe year for people riding bicycles within the city of Chicago, with no fatal bike crashes as of July 31. That's compared compared to five cycling fatalities in 2022 by that date, and three bike deaths in 2023 by the end of July.
But tragically our city's 2024 good luck streak came to an end last month. That's when a car driver fatally struck John Ward, 55, on a bicycle Saturday, August 24, in the Garfield Park green space, and fled the scene. He died of his injuries on Thursday, September 5, the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office stated.
According to a Chicago Police Department Community Alert released yesterday, on August 24 at around 8:28 p.m., the motorist struck and injured Ward on the 3500 block of W. Washington Blvd within the park.
"The vehicle is a blue in color 1997 Lincoln Town Car with license plate ES85500-IL, [and was] driven by an African-American male, approximately 50 years of age [with] grey facial hair," the alert states. "The rear registration plate of the vehicle is described to be missing a screw, and seen to be canted." The driver was last seen fleeing east on Washington.
Those with additional info about the incident or the vehicle are asked to call the CPD's Major Accident Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521
The Illinois Traffic Crash Report, completed by responding CPD officers, sheds more light on what reportedly happened. The narrative on the report says police were dispatched to Mount Sinai Hospital, where they met with Ward's sister. She told them Ward, who lived on the 3300 block of West Maypole Avenue, a few block from the crash site, was biking north when the driver struck him.
The crash report image, above, shows Ward's bike as being at the southeast corner of Central Park Avenue and Washington. That's the intersection just south of the Garfield Park Gold Dome Field House, shown at the top of this post. That image is a still from Streetsblog's video of riding the concrete-protected bike lanes on Central Park, which the Chicago Department of Transportation installed last fall.
The crash report narrative says that at the hospital the officers tried to get more info from Ward, but he was having difficulty speaking due to a head injury. His injuries included multiple lacerations to the left side of his face, arm pain, and "weakness to the legs." At the time, he was classified as being in "good" condition. However, it appears his condition deteriorated over the next 1.5 weeks leading to his death yesterday.
The report says the crash itself was not captured on a Police Observation Device camera. However, the image from the Community Alert indicates that there was footage of the driver fleeing the scene.
A little over seven years ago, in June 2017 a driver fatally struck bike rider Louis Smith, 56, on the 100 block of North Homan Avenue, just northeast of the Ward crash site.
Fatality Tracker: 2024 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 17
Bicyclist: 1
Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago surface streets, based on media reports and/or preliminary Chicago Police Department data.
2024 Chicago pedestrian fatality cases
• On August 17, 2024, a hit-and-run pickup driver fatally struck James Reed Tillman, as he was crossing the street in the 1900 block of West Howard Street in Rogers Park.
• On August 17, 2024, an SUV driver fatally struck 33-year-old Taras Mykhailenko on the 3300 block of North Harlem Avenue in the Dunning community.
• On August 6, 2024, a semi driver struck and killed a woman near Roosevelt Road and Ashland Avenue on the Near West Side.
• On July 29, 2024, an SUV driver, who apparently was entering a parking, lot fatally struck a male pedestrian near 89th Street and Loomis Avenue in Gresham.
• On July 22, 2024, a car driver ran over and killed a male victim near 115th Street and Vincennes Avenue in Morgan Park.
• On July 17, 2024, a semi driver fatally struck an unidentified male walking at the southwest corner of Lower Wacker Drive and Lower Michigan Avenue in the Loop and left the scene.
• On July 13, 2024, a car driver struck Steven Moore, 63, at 107th Street and Emerald Avenue in Rosedale, turned around, and fatally ran him over again.
• On June 2, 2024, a pickup truck driver fatally struck Xyaire Askew, 4, at 82nd Street and Harper Avenue in Avalon Park.
• On May 15, 2024, a hit-and-run trucker struck and killed Karl Hall, 44, at he walked across Halsted Street at Maxwell Street in University Village.
• On March 31, 2024, a hit-and-run sedan driver fatally struck CPS teacher Charles "Charlie" Mills, 56, in the 6400 block of South Pulaski Road in West Lawn.
• On March 3, 2024, an SUV driver fatally struck a man police said was "sitting in the street" on the 3100 block of West Marquette Road in Chicago Lawn.
• On February 25, 2024, a pickup driver failed to yield while making a left turn, fatally striking married couple Zofia Chruszcz, 72, and Ryszard Stebnicki, 75, in an unmarked crosswalk at Archer and McVicker avenues in Garfield Ridge.
• On February 22, 2024, a driver fatally struck a male pedestrian, 52, who was crossing South King Drive at 47th Street in the Grand Boulevard community.
• On February 8, 2024, a hit-and-run pickup driver ran a red and fatally struck Jiekun Xu, 68, as she crossed Pulaski Road at 44th Street in Archer Heights.
• On January 21, 2024, a hit-and-run SUV driver struck and killed David Marshall Hoyle III, 35, as he crossed 95th Street at Union Avenue in Washington Heights.
• On January 7, 2024, a hit-and-run SUV driver struck and killed Jason Kardish, 40, as he crossed Ashland Avenue at Diversey Parkway in Lincoln Park.
2024 Chicago bike fatality cases
• On August 24, 2024, a hit-and-run car driver fatally struck John Ward, 55, at Washington Boulevard and Central Park Avenue in the East Garfield Park community.
Did you appreciate this post? Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to support Streetsblog Chicago.
