Update 2/4/25, 11:30 AM: The Cook County medical examiner's office has identified the victim of the Near West Side crash as Hattie S. Mickell, 76. She lived about two miles southwest of the collision site in the North Lawndale community.
Streetsblog has obtained the Illinois Traffic Crash Report for the case. Additional info from the report has been added at the end of this article.
Tragically, about a week after a hit-and-run driver struck and killed a senior on foot in West Town, a trucker fatally struck another elderly woman on the Near West Side, only a mile south of the earlier crash.
On Friday, January 24, a hit-and-run SUV driver killed Halyna Hudzan, 66, at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Oakley Boulevard in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood in the West Town community area. The crash report for the incident stated the name and address of the vehicle owner. Its narrative said the motorist paused after striking the pedestrian, and then dropped off a passenger at a nearby supermarket, and the vehicle's license plate was later recorded by an Automated License Plate Reader. This afternoon, a Chicago Police Department spokesperson told Streetsblog there are no updates on that case.
Then last Saturday, February 1, a truck driver struck and killed the other senior on foot. According to the initial police statement, at around 8:45 a.m., the 76-year-old woman was walking in the street on the 0-100 block of South Western Avenue. (A report from the Cook County medical examiner's stated the address as 1 N. Western.) At this intersection, Western is a five-lane street, which encourages speeding.
The CPD statement said a northbound truck driver struck the woman. She was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. No citations or charges had been issued at the time.
Update 2/4/25, 12:00 PM: The Illinois Traffic Crash Report, completed by responding officers, provides more information about what reportedly happened. The narrative states that the responding officers arrived to find the victim, Hattie McKell, under the rear axle of the truck "with a large laceration to the right side of her forehead." Chicago Fire Department personnel extracted her and attempted lifesaving measures, and then transported her to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 9:22 a.m.
According to the narrative, when the responding officers tried to interview the truck driver, he had limited English proficiency, so a Polish-speaking officer was called to the scene to translate. The trucker reportedly said that he was driving north on Western and stopped for a red light at Madison. After it was "clear to proceed, he drove forward and realized after looking in his side mirror that the pedestrian had gone under his vehicle, at which point he stopped and called for emergency services," the report states.
The narrative says that two witnesses told the officers "the pedestrian had crossed S. Western Ave. westbound outside of the crosswalk in between vehicles and that there was no way the driver of [the truck] could have seen the pedestrian in the vehicle's... blind spot."
However, the narrative also states that police spoke to a third witness who said the trucker "'came fast' and struck the pedestrian."
According to the report, the officers searched the area for security cameras, without success. The driver underwent tests for intoxication. He was cited for failure to exercise due care for pedestrians.
Fatality Tracker: 2025 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 3
Bicyclist: 0
Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago surface streets, based on media reports and/or preliminary Chicago Police Department data.
2025 Chicago pedestrian fatality cases
• On January 5, 2025, a Jeep driver fatally struck Alex Rivera, 32, in the 2600 block of West 60th Street in the Chicago Lawn community area.
• On January 24, 2025, a hit-and-run SUV driver struck and killed Halyna Hudzan, 66, on the 700 block of North Oakley Boulevard in West Town.
• On, February 1, 2025, a truck driver struck and killed Hattie Mickell, 76, walking in the street on the 0-100 block of South Western Avenue on the Near West Side.
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