Police are trying to track down the man who drove his truck into a Loop bus shelter on Tuesday evening, leaving a 61-year-old woman seriously wounded. The incident was captured on video by at least two witnesses.
It happened across from Grant Park in the 1100 block of South Michigan around 11:45 p.m. The entire downtown area was filled with traffic as people celebrated Mexican Independence Day. However, police have not connected the hit-and-run driver to the celebration.
A video taken by Marissa Parra of CBS2 shows the red truck accelerating down Michigan Avenue with its tires squealing before it turns sharply and heads into the bus shelter. Parra’s video ends a split-second before the woman is struck.
A second video was taken from overhead by Twitter user @webmastir. The red truck is first seen standing diagonally across the traffic lanes with its hazard lights on. The engine revs and the vehicle begins moving in a wide left-to-right hook that sends it directly into the bus shelter.
After the collision, the driver backs out of the bus stop, pauses in a traffic lane for a few seconds, then continues south on Michigan Avenue. He then turned west on Roosevelt, according to police.
An ambulance transported the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with injuries to her legs. A photojournalist for Captured News reported that bystanders used a Mexican flag as a tourniquet to control the woman’s blood loss until first responders arrived.
Anyone with information about the truck or its driver can contact the Chicago Police Major Accidents Investigations Unit at 312-745-4521 regarding case JD-368588.