After a hit-and-run truck driver fatally struck Belesda Toledo, 47, in Little Village, residents hope to find her killer

Tragically, on Wednesday, July 29, at around 11:41 a.m., a hit-and-run truck driver struck and killed Belesda Toledo, 47, at 25th Street and Hamlin Avenue in Little Village. The driver is still at large.

According to the initial Chicago Police Department statement, Toledo was crossing Hamlin westbound in a crosswalk when the southbound driver of a white truck struck her and fled south.

Toledo was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition, police said. She later died from her injuries.

According to a report by Charles Thrush for Block Club Chicago, a block party and memorial event was held at the crash site on Sunday to honor Toledo and raise funds to support her family. The Chinese Crisis Responder and Cook County Crime Stoppers are offering reward money for info that leads to an arrest, $5,000 and $1,000, respectively.

Block Club reported that Toledo, a mother of four, was on her way home from buying groceries when the driver struck her. “She did a lot of volunteering, nonprofit work, and she was a good person throughout the neighborhood,” her brother Martin Toledo said. “She was very helpful to me… It’s a big loss for my family.”

“We’re here to raise awareness,” local organizer Raul Montes told Block Club. “We want to hold [the driver] responsible for her death.”

“She was a very kind soul,” family friend Ella Bueno told ABC7 Chicago’s Lissette Nuñez. “A very bright person who was always smiling, who kind of had this contagious energy about her. Like she would smile and you would always see her with her kids. I know she loved being a mom.”

Read the Block Club Chicago report here.

Read the ABC7 Chicago report here.

Fatality Tracker: 2026 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets

Pedestrian: 17

Bicycle or e-scooter: 6

2026 Chicago pedestrian fatalities

• On Wednesday, January 7, around 8:44 a.m., a 42-year-old woman driving an SUV fatally struck a man, 64, crossing at 9498 S. Lafayette Ave. in Roseland.

• On Monday, February 16, around 4:12 p.m., a 37-year-old female truck driver struck and killed a woman, 63, in the 7200 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Norwood Park.

• On Monday, February 16, before 7:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a man, 69, in the 11900 block of South Halsted Street in West Pullman.

• On Tuesday, March 3, around 6:15 PM, an SUV driver, 70, fatally struck a female pedestrian in the 4000 block of West Foster Avenue in the North Park neighborhood.

• On Wednesday, March 11, sometime before 10 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a woman, 32, in the 2100 block of East 83rd Street in South Chicago.

• On Friday, March 13, at around 12:06 p.m., the left-turning driver of a large vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk at 3960 W. 26th St. in Little Village.

• On Sunday, April 12, around 9 p.m., a 17-year-old girl driving an SUV fatally struck a Fontella Wyatt, 43, crossing Ogden Avenue at Ashland Avenue on the Near West Side.

• On Sunday, April 19, at about 9:30 p.m., a hit-and-run pickup truck driver struck and killed Minerva Martinez, 65, in a crosswalk at Belmont and Central avenues in Belmont Cragin.

• On Monday, April 20, around 6 p.m., a semi-truck driver fatally struck Autumn Perez, 29, at 6341 S. Western Ave. in Chicago Lawn.

• On Tuesday, April 21, at around 4:24 p.m., a Honda driver, 47, fatally struck a male pedestrian, 78, at 4050 N. Central Avenue in Portage Park.

• On Wednesday, April 22, a driver failed to yield the right of way and fatally struck a pedestrian at 1498 N. California Ave. in West Town.

• On Saturday, May 2, around 2:40 a.m., after an argument, a driver fatally struck a man, 65, standing on the sidewalk on the 5000 block of S. Western Ave. in Gage Park, and then fled the scene.

• On Tuesday, May 12, Enrique Nieto was changing a flat car tire in the street on the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road when an SUV driver fatally struck him and fled the scene.

• On Thursday, May 14, a hit-and-run sedan driver fatally struck a man, 36, near 87th Street and Ashland Avenue in Auburn Gresham.

• On Saturday, May 23, around 5:15 p.m., a driver, 35, fatally struck Illeana Crisanto, 62, near Belmont and Kilbourn avenues, on the border of Irving Park and Hermosa.

• On Sunday, July 26, at around 10:47 p.m., a speeding SUV driver, 39, struck and killed a male pedestrian, 63, on the 5100 block of South Western Avenue in Gage Park.

• On Wednesday, July 29, at around 11:41 a.m., a hit-and-run truck driver struck and killed Belesda Toledo, 47, on the 2500 block of South Hamlin Avenue in Little Village.

2026 Chicago bicycle and e-scooter fatalities

• On Thursday, January 24, around 8:20 p.m., the 33-year-old male driver of a Toyota fatally struck Roman Havelka, 63, on a bicycle in the 8600 block of West Irving Park Road.

• On Saturday, March 21,  around 8:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Violet Harris, 15, on an e-scooter in the 2800 block of East 77th Street in South Shore.

• On Sunday, April 5, around 1:20 a.m., a speeding, hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Damian Gomez, 18, on a bicycle at 63rd Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago Lawn.

• On Friday, April 24, around 4:15 p.m., a Jeep driver struck and killed e-scooter rider Astrid Carrillo Noguera, 17, near 3340 S. King Dr. in the Douglas community.

• On Friday, June 5, around 4:40 p.m., a car driver opened their door on CDOT Planner Riley O’Neil, 35, causing him to clip the door and be thrown in front of a truck and fatally struck.

• On Wednesday August 5 at about 3:37 PM a semi driver and Alex Blacio, 16, riding an e-scooter, collided at 4025 N. Western Ave. in North Center, and the teen later died from his injuries. Streetsblog will run a full writeup of this case soon.

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