State’s attorney’s office provides details on the coincidence, and an aunt’s tough decision, that led to charges against the driver who critically injured Dr. Ray Lee
As Streetsblog recently reported, last Wednesday evening after bike crash survivor Dr. Ray Lee’s family met up with the Ride of Silence at the collision site, police called his wife Fani to let her know they were charging the hit-and-run driver who injured Dr. Lee. You can read our previous writeup of the case for background.
Yesterday, I read an email response to my questions for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office that provides many more details about how the authorities were apparently able to solve the case. Fani Lee and the family’s civil attorney Michael Keating (a Streetsblog Chicago sponsor) have given me their consent to publish this information.
“On 5/21/26, the defendant [Tavis Roark, 35] appeared in court and was ordered detained,” a spokesrson for the state’s attorney’s office emailed me. “The next court date is 5/27/26… Attached is the proffer presented by prosecutors at the detention hearing… We are unable to comment on pending litigation.”
Here’s the text of the document the CCSAO sent me, which I’ve edited for clarity and brevity, and added some commentary.
The crash
“This incident was captured on [a police observation device] camera and was inventoried,” the proffer states. “On October 28, 2025 at about 4:35 p.m., [responding officers] responded to an auto collision with a cyclist at 400 S. Damen Ave. [Dr. Lee] was riding his bike traveling northbound on Damen, when [Roark, driving] a red sedan, disregarded the red light while traveling westbound on Van Buren [Street] and struck [Lee] as he crossed the intersection. [Roark] projected [Lee] through the intersection where [Lee] came to a rest on Van Buren. [Roark] paused briefly after the collision before fleeing the scene.”
The proffer states that a woman, 42, who happened to be bicycling behind Lee, took photos of the car Roark was driving, showing the license plate to be “BN64959,” with pre-existing rear damage. “[Roark] did not return to the scene and he did not render aid to [Lee] nor report the collision.”
The document says that a second female witness, 32, who was driving “was at the intersection and heard the crash, but did not see it.” “[The second witness] observed an object flying through the air when she attempted to proceed on her green light,” it adds. “[She] completed her turn, realized that it was a person that was lying on the ground, parked her car, called 911, and went to [Lee] to assist.”
“[Lee] was unconscious on the scene with a broken leg and an injury to his face and he was bleeding from the ears and mouth,” the proffer states. “[He] was transported to Stroger Hospital and his medical records have been inventoried. [Lee] suffered a broken leg and brain damage from the accident, and is unlikely ever to return to his career as a doctor. The victim’s medical records indicate the victim sustained life-altering injuries and will never be able to work in his medical field again.”
The investigation
“Investigators learned the offender’s vehicle was registered to [Roark’s] mother who resides in Downers Grove,” the document says. “An investigator, [Roark’s] mother’s sister, informed investigators that her sister’s family member may have been driving the car.”
To clarify, it appears that, by coincidence, Tavis Roark’s aunt is a Chicago Police Department investigator, who informed the Major Accidents Investigation Unit that she suspected her nephew was the hit-and-run driver. If that’s the case, she deserves credit for making a difficult choice, but the ethical one.
“[A Law Enforcement Agencies Data System] search showed the vehicle had been
reported stolen from 1 N. Leavitt [St., less than a mile from the crash site] by [Roark’s] mother under [the incident report number] 2.5 hours after the accident,” the proffer states. “A community alert for the vehicle resulted in a [police officer] observing the offending vehicle, a red 201 O Ford Fusion with front end damage parked in a building’s garage.”
This was Tavis Roark’s building. Presumably, the officer was able to find the sedan in his garage because Roark’s aunt had reported her suspicion that her nephew was the offender.
“Investigators then obtained multiple search warrants for the vehicle and impounded it for lifting prints and swabbing for DNA,” the document says. “[Closed-circuit TV] footage from [Roark’s] residence was collected and inventoried. The footage shows [Roark], wearing a dark blue coverall, entering the vehicle in the morning, and it has no damage to the front of it, and [Roark] drives away.”
“Shortly after the crash, [Roark] can be seen pulling back into the garage, which is located approximately five blocks from the crash, with a caved in windshield and a dent on the hood of the car,” the proffer states. “[He] parks in his designated parking spot and exits the vehicle, wearing the same dark blue coveralls he was wearing earlier that morning. [Roark] attempts to re-park the car so the damage wouldn’t be facing out but is unsuccessful. [He] then takes a jacket and a yellow safety vest and attempts to cover up the damage to his car with them. [Roark] then begins to empty out the car his belongings. [He] pushes the door closed with his hand. Fingerprints were lifted from the area that [Roark] was captured on camera pushing the door closed, and came back as a match to [his prints.]”
“A search of [the vehicle Roark was driving] through [a license plate reader] located the vehicle traveling from [his] work to his house on the date of the crash,” the statement adds. “[The LPR] picks up the driver sticking his arm out the window wearing a dark blue sleeve consistent with the coveralls [Roark] is observed wearing when exiting the vehicle on CCTV of his residence.”
“Additionally, two residents of the same building identify [Roark] from a still image as the
individual who lives in unit 206 in their building,” the proffer says. “The Unit 206 owner provided a copy of the lease with the lessee being listed as [Roark] providing his cell phone number. A [search warrant] was executed for [his] cell phone data. Tower data shows the defendant’s phone in the area at the time of the incident.”
“As stated earlier, [Roark’s] mother made a call into the police later that day reporting the car as stolen, even though the vehicle was still located in [the] assigned parking spot at his
residence.”
“The defendant was arrested 5/20/26.”
So it seems like a number of factors aligned to allow the police department to make a strong case to hold Tavis Roark responsible for the crash that has tragically altered Dr. Ray Lee’s life. Unfortunately, the investigators’ good fortune in apparently cracking this case also highlights the challenges that help explain why reportedly less than 1 percent of Chicago hit-and-run cases result in an arrest or conviction.
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