At “ghost bike” vigil for Juan Martin Márquez, reminders that reckless drivers have killed far too many vulnerable road users on the Southwest Side
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 26, family, friends, and bike community members gathered at Archer and Laramie avenues in Garfield Ridge to memorialize Juan Martin Márquez, 54. According to the Illinois Traffic Crash Report for his case, he was riding an electric motorcycle to work on Monday, September 14, around 5:15 a.m., when a pickup driver ran a red light, fatally struck him, and then fled the scene on foot. The motorist has not been apprehended.
Amid the noise of Archer Avenue’s four lanes of traffic, Márquez’s loved ones and local organizers honored his memory and called for justice. Throughout the “ghost bike” installation vigil, which was organized by Bike Lane Uprising, cyclists, “e-moto” riders, and drivers who were stopped at the traffic signal took note of the crowd and listened in.
“He raised us to be respectful, responsible, and most importantly, to own the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad,” said one of Márquez’s daughters during the ceremony. She called on the driver who killed her father to turn himself in to the authorities.
Márquez moved to Chicago from his hometown of Lagos de Moreno in Jalisco, Mexico, around 25 years ago. His children remembered him as loving his adopted city, and passionately supporting the Cubs, Blackhawks, and especially the Bears. Family members wore Bears regalia to the vigil.
“I want to make sure that today, the story that we tell, isn’t defined how he was taken, but how he lived, who he loved, and the legacy he leaves behind,” said Juan Martin Márquez’s son Christian Márquez.
Juan Martin Márquez’s daughter Modesta Márquez told Block Club Chicago she noticed that his phone was at a location away from his workplace, so she went to Archer/Laramie to look for it, and instead saw only his e-moto and helmet on the ground.
A GoFundMe has been set up to support Juan Martin Márquez’s family.
In the early hours of Sunday, April 5, there was a very similar tragedy less than four miles away at 63rd Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago Lawn. An SUV driver blew a red and fatally struck delivery cyclist Damian Gomez, 18, and also ran away from the crime scene. Gomez was honored with a ghost bike as well. More than five months laster, no charges have been filed in his case.
Gomez’s mother Claudia Torres also attended the vigil for Márquez, while still seeking answers about her son’s case. She held a poster reading “We want justice for Damian Gomez” throughout Saturday’s event.
Gomez’s loved ones at a memorial and rally for him on April 8. Photo shared by Alfredo Valladares Jr. from Gage Park Cyclists.
Archer/Laramie also has a memorial on its northwest corner for Maria Ochoa, 84, who was fatally struck on the evening of Saturday, May 24, 2025. A turning SUV driver failed to yield to oncoming traffic, collided with a sedan, and then hit the great-grandmother.
Speaking at a vigil following her death, Ochoa’s son Alberto Ochoa said, “Please do something for this community if you want to remember my mom.”
Ald. Silvana Tabares (23rd), whose ward office is located on the same corner as Ochoa’s memorial, and across the street from Márquez’s ghost bike, did not show up for Saturday’s vigil. Drivers have struck and killed at least two other pedestrians and a bicycle rider on Archer in her ward in the last six years.
Yet another ghost bike is located just three blocks southwest of this intersection on Archer, honoring Lisa Schalk, 50. On November 1, 2017, a driver turning from Lorel Avenue onto Archer fatally struck her as she cycled. “I hope the city will do something about this problem,” Schalk’s brother Mark said at her ghost bike installation. “My mom should not have to bury my sister, her daughter, It’s just not right.”
These cases are more evidence that Chicagoans must urge local officials to support street designs and policies that prevent serious and fatally crashes. When that happens, hopefully roadside memorials will become a thing of the past.
Update 9/29/26, 11:00 AM by John Greenfield: In a shocking turn of events, as bike advocates Eric Allix Rogers (an SBC photo contributor) and Omar Flores, a member of Gage Park Cyclists, rode to the vigil together, a man with mental illness attacked them with a knife.
Rogers was slashed in the face and had to receive several stitches. Flores escaped injury. The assailant was arrested.
“While it’s awful that this [terrifying incident] happened to [Eric], it sounds this was an isolated incident, not a trend that people riding bikes in Chicago should be afraid of,” I posted via the SBC Bluesky account.
“Agreed, this was a random act by someone with profound mental health problems, that is extremely obvious,” he responded. “It’s not gonna keep me off the bike!”
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