Tragically, a 72-year-old minivan driver fatally struck Juslene Akeza, 4, as she was crossing the street last Wednesday during the evening rush in the West Ridge neighborhood. The motorist was cited for negligent driving.
According to the initial police report, on Wednesday, October 1, around 5:43 p.m., the girl was crossing Talman Avenue (2630 W.) westbound on Granville Avenue (6200 N.) The intersection has four-way stop signs. The minivan driver was heading northbound when he struck her.
Juslene was taken to St. Francis Hospital in critical condition, and pronounced dead early Thursday morning, according to an NBC Chicago report. The crash happened right outside her home.
The motorist, who stayed on the scene, was cited for failure to to exercise due care for a pedestrian in the road, and failure to reduce speed, according to police.
Streetsblog Chicago was unable to locate the crash report for the case. If we can acquire it, this post will be updated with more details about what reportedly happened.
The collision occured along the recently installed Granville Greenway, which runs 2.8-mile stretch between Kedzie Avenue (3200 W.) and Sheridan Road (1000 W.) in West Ridge and Edgewater. Granville, a mostly residential street with several parks and schools, is located halfway between Devon (6400 N.) and Peterson (6000 N.) avenues.
Prior to the street redesign, it was common for drivers to try to avoid traffic jams on those arterials by using Granville as a "cut-through" crosstown route. To prevent this, the Chicago Department of Transportation made sections of Granville one-way for motorists, with contraflow lanes to legalize two-way bicycle and e-scooter riding, and installed other infrastructure to calm traffic.
Streetsblog Chicago will provide more commentary on the Granville Greenway design later this week.
However, the east-west greenway design is not relevant to this case, in which a northbound driver on a side street failed to stop in time to avoid taking a child's life.
Juslene was the second young child struck and killed by a motorist on a Chicago side street in less that two weeks. On September 18, a sedan driver fatally struck Anakin Perez, 9, in front of McNair Elementary, 4820 W. Walton St. in Austin.
Fatality Tracker: 2025 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 21
Bicyclist: 2
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.
• On March 13, 2025, a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a pedestrian in an alley at 1145 N. Harding Ave. in the Humboldt Park community area.
• On March 14, 2025, a motorcycle rider fatally struck Camryn Green, 26, as she crossed the street in the 6500 block of Higgins Avenue in Norwood Park.
• On March 17, 2025, a sedan driver sideswiped another car, then jumped the curb and fatally struck Jamie Cerney, 38, on the sidewalk of the 5200 block of West 63rd Street in Clearing.
• On April 7, 2025, a pickup driver fatally struck a 72-year-old man trying to cross DuSable Lake Shore Drive at Roosevelt Road in the Loop.
• On April 29, 2025, an allegedly intoxicated sedan driver fatally struck a woman, 25, on the sidewalk near 13th Street and Lawndale Avenue in North Lawndale.
• On May 13, 2025, an allegedly drunk SUV driver fatally struck a man, 76, on the 7000 South block of Western Avenue in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood and fled the scene.
• On May 16, 2025, a semi truck reportedly disobeyed his traffic signal when making a right turn and ran over and killed a 44-year-old man in the crosswalk at Cermak and Ashland avenues in Pilsen.
• On May 24, 2025, an SUV driver failed to yield while making a left turn, causing a crash and fatally striking Maria Ochoa, 88, at Archer and Laramie avenues in Garfield Ridge.
• On June 10, 2025, the left-turning driver of a large vehicle leaving a parking lot fatally struck a pedestrian mid-block at 4823 W. Diversey Ave. in Belmont Cragin.
• On June 21, 2025, a hit-and-run car sedan struck and killed Brendan Siddall, 26 on DuSable Lake Shore Drive near Waveland Avenue in Lakeview.
• On July 13, 2025, an allegedly intoxicated driver fatally struck Rosa Hernandez, 69, at Roosevelt Road and Halsted Street on the Near West Side.
• On July 19, 2025 a hit-and-run car driver fatally struck Marcela Herrera, 22, and seriously injured her fiancé, Mauricio Leyva, 21, at Cullerton and Ashland avenues in Pilsen.
• On July 31, 2025, around 6:53 p.m., a Chevy driver fatally struck a female pedestrian near 63rd and Morgan streets in Englewood. The driver was arrested and charges were pending.
• On August 3, 2025, around 3:23 a.m., a man, 31, was found unresponsive in the 7600 block of South Stewart Avenue in Gresham and later pronounced dead, the victim of a hit-and-run driver.
• On August 6, 2025, around 7:30 p.m., a hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck a pedestrian in the 1400 block of West Estes Avenue in Rogers Park
• On August 9, 2025, around 3:20 a.m., a hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Jermaine Martin, 22 in the 5400 block of South Kedzie Avenue in the Gage Park community.
• On September 18, 2025, the driver of a Chevy sedan fatally struck Anakin Perez, 9, in front of his school on the 4800 block of West Walton Street in Austin.
• On October 1, 2025, a minivan driver fatally struck Juslene Akeza, 4, as she crossed the street at Granville and Talman avenues in West Ridge.
2025 Chicago bike fatality cases
• On May 26, 2025, a Hummer SUV driver fatally struck Yader Castaneda, 18, at Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue in the Loop.
• On Saturday, July 5, 2025, a hit-and-run Audi driver fatally struck Shaheed Muhammed, 56, on his bicycle at 63rd and Halsted streets in Englewood. The victim died from his injuries on Thursday, July 10.
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