CHICAGO — The driver accused of striking and seriously injuring a man near Water Tower Place on Monday evening is now facing felony charges, according to Chicago police.
Ayca Sarialioglu, 29, of Logan Square, will be in bond court Wednesday afternoon on felony charges of failure to report an accident involving injury and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death, police said. She is also charged with misdemeanor leaving the scene and misdemeanor DUI. She was cited for failure to reduce speed.
The victim, a 40-year-old man from Edgewater, was struck around 6:45 p.m. as he walked away from his Nissan Rogue, which was parked on the north side of Chestnut Street between the former Hancock and Water Tower Place, according to Chicago police.
As he was crossing, Sarialioglu exited a passageway beneath Water Tower Place in a Nissan Altima, struck the man’s SUV, then struck him, according to a CPD crash report. EMS took the man to Northwestern Memorial Hospital with head, arms, and leg injuries. Police said he was in critical condition.
Sarialioglu was found a short time later after she crashed into several parked cars in the 300 block of West Erie, police said.
While police were investigating the crash on Chestnut Street, a security officer informed them that the woman struck another vehicle inside the Water Tower Place garage, according to a separate crash report.
Investigators found a vehicle on the garage’s second floor with “severe damage” that had been pushed out of its parking spot by the force of the collision, the report said. Surveillance video showed the Nissan traveling the wrong way on the ramp when it struck the vehicle.
Water Tower’s footage also allowed police to put together a description of the driver, the report said. After exiting the garage, the woman turned onto Pearson Street, cut through a driveway beneath Water Tower Place, and emerged on Chestnut, where she turned and struck the victim, according to the crash reports.
CWBChicago will post an updated story after Sarialioglu appears in court on Wednesday.