The night bike crash survivor Dr. Ray Lee’s family met up with the Ride of Silence, CPD called to say it was charging the reckless driver who changed his life

Last Wednesday evening, occupational therapist Fani Lee stood with her children Olivia, 15, and Max, 13, stood at the northwest corner of Van Buren Street and Damen Avenue in the West Loop. There were there to greet the Chicago Ride of Silence, an annual event in memory of bicyclists who lost their lives to traffic violence. But this year, the group of about 100 people on bikes was also honoring a person who was critically injured while cycling, but still alive: Lee’s husband and the kids’ father, Dr. Ray Lee.

Last October 29 at about 4:30 p.m., Dr. Lee was riding home to Bucktown from his job at Schwab Rehabilitation as a physiatrist who specializes in spinal cord injuries. According to the Illinois Traffic Crash Report, he was pedaling north on Damen when he approached Van Buren. Here the east-west street doubles as an offramp for westbound traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway.

As Dr. Lee entered the the intersection with a green, the westbound driver of a red 2010 Ford Fusion sedan with the license plate “BN 64959” disobeyed their stoplight, the crash report states. The motorist struck the bike rider from his right side, and fled the scene. Lee was thrown some 30 feet, and the impact cracked his helmet according to his wife. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma at Stroger Hospital for many days afterwards.

Almost seven months after the crash, Dr. Lee is at Rehab Without Walls, receiving inpatient care. “He can walk and talk, but after a really serious brain injury, he’s not the way he was,” his wife told Streetsblog. “It’s hard, especially for the kids.” She said he’s unable to work, and was terminated from his job earlier this month after his six months of paid time off ended.

Community members have rallied to support Dr. Lee and his family, raising over $81,000 through a GoFundMe. “Ray is known for helping others regain their strength and mobility and providing compassionate care to countless patients,” the page states. “He is an incredible teacher, colleague and friend.”

That support was also illustrated by the large crowd of people who rolled south on Damen Wednesday evening to meet up with Fani, Olivia, and Max Lee at the site where the hit-and-run driver altered Ray’s life. Ride of Silence participant Chris Holden contacted his wife to invite them to attend. “Olivia really wanted to go to honor her dad,” Fani told Streetsblog.

Holden introduced ride leader Elizabeth Adamczyk to the family, and Adamczyk gave them red roses as a symbol of hope that Dr. Lee’s recovery will ultimately be successful. “It felt very much like being part of a community,” Fani said. “It made us feel connected, and it made us feel lucky that there was no ‘ghost bike’ there.” She was referring to the white painted memorials to fallen cyclists installed at some fatal crash locations.

Adamczyk and Fani Lee embraced while Holden, Max, and Olivia looked on.

Fani added that she’s also grateful to the many witnesses to her husband’s collision who stayed on the scene to help. These included two people who happened to be riding bikes behind Dr. Lee that day, one of whom was able to use a Garmin device on Ray’s bike to directly contact his wife and let her know what had happened.

After the Lees came home from the Ride of Silence that night, there was some big news. Around 9 p.m., Fani got a call from the Chicago Police Department informing her that they were charging the suspect in the hit-and-run.

According to Police News Affairs, Tavis Roark, 35, who lives near the collision site, was charged with one felony count of failure to report an injury crash. A detention hearing was held on Thursday at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 2650 S. California Ave. in Little Village.

Mike Keating from Keating Law Offices, the civil attorney for the Lee family (and a Streetsblog Chicago sponsor), provided information on how the case proceeded. He explained that Tavis Roark’s mother owns the car from the collision. “One hour after the crash, the Roark family filed a police report saying the car was stolen,” Keating said. “Tavis apparently lied to his family and to investigators, and an inaccurate report was filed.”

“Tavis Roark was a suspect all along,” Keating added, noting that the collision was captured by Office of Emergency Management and Communication cameras, and likely other surveillance devices in the Illinois Medical District. “We now know that the police department’s Major Accidents Investigations Unit had information that ultimately led to his arrest.”

Fani Lee said she wasn’t totally surprised by Wednesday night’s news, since she’d been getting updates from MAIU. “But it was a relief,” she said. “My biggest concern is that [Tavis Roark] doesn’t do it again. From what I understand, he’s a repeat DUI offender, so I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else. My understanding is that they will go before the grand jury, and there will probably be more charges.”

Keating said he was impressed how CPD handled the investigation. “As someone who has handled many hit-and-run injury cases, I’m grateful to MAIU for their persistence that had this result.” He gave special credit to Investigator Paul Niezabitowski, a traffic specialist.

Fani Lee agreed that Niezabitowski and his team did a “fantastic” job. “He was very good about explaining how much evidence would be needed before they could make a strong case,” she said. “So I’m very grateful they put in all that time to get justice for Ray.”

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