Chicago police have released two clearer images of the dirt bike rider who left a woman with catastrophic injuries on the Lakefront Trail in the Gold Coast last month. The photos are a significant improvement over a blurry initial image that CPD released early in its investigation.
The crash happened around 3:47 p.m. on July 20, when the 45-year-old woman was riding her bike along the trail just south of North Avenue. Police said a man wearing a black ski mask and dark clothing was riding a yellow dirt bike recklessly when he struck her.
After the crash, the dirt bike rider was last seen in the area of Milwaukee Avenue and Chicago Avenue, according to CPD’s latest public bulletin.
The woman’s injuries were serious enough that Chicago police turned the investigation over to the department’s Major Accident Investigation Unit, which handles the most severe crashes. Police have not identified the man and are asking anyone with video or information to call detectives at 312-745-4521 or submit an anonymous tip at CPDTIP.com, referencing case number JK346606.
The crash is a flashpoint in what has become a growing complaint from regulars on the 18-mile trail: motorized vehicles speeding along a path where they don’t belong. The trail was built for walkers, joggers and bicyclists moving under their own power. But those users increasingly find themselves on the lookout as people riding motorized bikes and skateboard-style devices zip along at breakneck speeds.
Pedal-assist e-bikes get some of the blame, particularly when riders remove the devices that are supposed to cap how fast they can go. But the bigger worry, according to those who use the trail regularly, is heavier, faster machines that don’t belong on a bike path at all: gas-powered minibikes, electric dirt bikes, mopeds and electric motorcycles built to look like bicycles, some of which exceed 40 mph. Those devices also accelerate faster and weigh more than standard bikes, raising the stakes when something goes wrong, as it did on July 20.
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