On in the evening of Wednesday, November 19, 2025, a motorist fatally struck beloved former Tribune Media Services Senior Vice President Walter Mahoney, 74, while he was on one of his regular walks near his home in Western Springs. Streetsblog Chicago reported on the case in December, and the details of the incident that were available at the time can be found in that previous article.
In summary, the collision took place at the US 34 (Ogden Avenue) / Woodland Avenue intersection where, located just south of Bemis Woods South forest preserve and the Salt Creek Trail System. The junction used to have a marked crosswalk with Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons.
In 2022, the crosswalk and beacons were taken out, and a new crosswalk was installed at US 34 and Wolf Avenue, an intersection with a stoplight, roughly one quarter of a mile east. The crash took place a few blocks from Mahoney's house. Depending on where he was coming from, detouring to the new crossing and back might have added about a half mile to his trip.
Streetsblog recently received a response to our Freedom of Information Act request for the Illinois Traffic Crash Report. It provides more details about what reportedly happened.
Identifying information about the involved parties and witnesses was redacted. However, the document states that the male driver who struck Money around 5:05 p.m. that day lives in Downers Grove, a town located about six miles west of the crash site. He was in a 2024 BMW X3 3.0 compact luxury crossover SUV. The crash report states that he was not distracted and were not injured.
The sketch of the crash in the document indicates that the driver was heading east. It suggests that the Mahoney was heading south, in the part of the intersection where the marked crosswalk previously existed.
"The driver of [the BMW] stated, he was traveling eastbound on [US 34] Ogden at Woodland Avenue, in the right lane, when [Mahoney] appeared in the roadway directly in front of [him]," the report's narrative says. "[The driver] stated he did not have time to react and the front of the BMW struck the pedestrian."
According to the narrative, one of the witness said "she was stopped facing north on Woodland at Ogden, waiting to make a left turn on Ogden." It adds that she "saw [Mahoney] crossing Ogden, from the Bemis Woods heading south across Ogden, when he was struck by the front of the [eastbound BMW]."
The report states that the responding officers "noticed that [Mahoney] was wearing all dark clothing." It adds, "He crossed Ogden not in a crosswalk and in an area which was poorly lit by street lamps." The sun set at 4:28 pm. that day, and the crash reportedly took place 37 minute later later.
Perhaps we should give the BWM driver the benefit of the doubt that, as the report states, he wasn't driving distracted, and he honestly believed that the 74-year-old man suddenly "appeared in the roadway directly in front of [him]."
But even if that was the case, it's possible this tragedy could have been averted if the marked crosswalk hadn't been removed three years earlier. That would have given the motorist some warning that he might need to stop for a person on foot. And maybe then it wouldn't have be the case that "he did not have time to react" to avoid fatally striking Walter Mahoney.
Read Streetsblog's previous article about the Walter Mahoney Case here for more info.
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