Car accidents happen on roadways, in parking lots and sometimes on private property in driveways and other easements. When car accidents are serious the involved vehicles sometimes travel off of the roads that they were driving on and end up on sidewalks, medians or road shoulders. The most unexpected and sometimes most tragic auto accidents breach even those road-adjacent locations.
A 61-year-old Chicago woman was working in a neighbor’s garden on South St. Louis Street when she was run over by a pick-up truck. After hitting the woman, the pick-up truck reportedly hit a garage and a wall before stopping. The victim lived in the neighborhood where the accident occurred and died of her injuries at a local hospital.
What makes this story particularly tragic is that the driver of the pick-up truck was a 13-year-old boy. The juvenile had moved into the driver’s seat of his father’s pick-up after the father got out of the running vehicle to collect some items from an alley. The boy inadvertently shifted the truck into drive and pushed the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing the truck to strike the woman and property.
Law enforcement officials may bring charges against the father of the driver as the father was operating with a suspended driver’s license and left the vehicle running and unattended. In addition to the criminal charges that he may face, the family of the victim may seek compensation against the father in a civil suit for the victim’s wrongful death.
While the peace of this Chicago neighborhood was horribly disrupted by this tragedy, people across the city may learn from this story the importance of maintaining control of one’s vehicle at all times and monitoring all passengers to ensure that they do not cause dangerous situations. Though the youth who hit the victim may never forget that tragic day, the family of the victim will also have to learn to live with her loss and the pain and suffering created by the terrible accident.
Source: NBC 5 Chicago, “Woman Dead After Accidental Strike by Pick-Up Truck,” Nesita Kwan, August 15, 2013
