STONE PARK, IL- The chicago.suntimes.com writes that a man died after being struck by a car on Tuesday, February 5, 2019, in Stone Park. The victim was identified as Mr. Cortez, 57 of Northlake.
Cortez was hit by a car at about 6:25 in the evening. The driver then fled the scene of the fatal accident. The vehicle was described as a dark blue 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. The crash happened on Mannheim Road, and Cortez was transported to the Gottlieb Memorial Hospital where he was declared dead about 40 minutes after arriving.
Cortez’s death was ruled accidental by the medical examiner’s office. The cause of death was multiple blunt force injuries.
The police are still searching for the Jeep and the driver who killed Cortez.
Hit-and-run crashes are a growing problem across the United States. The AAA reported that 2016 was the worst year on record for fatal hit-and-run crashes with a reported 2,049 fatal hit-and-run crashes taking place that year across the country.
Victims of these types of accidents are most often pedestrians and cyclists. About one out of every five fatal pedestrian crashes involved a driver who left the accident scene. One of the reasons that pedestrians and cyclists are more likely victims of hit-and-run drivers than vehicle occupants is because the vehicles that cause the crash typically far less damaged after hitting a person or a bike that they are after being involved in a crash with another vehicle, especially in a severe enough crash with another vehicle that someone was killed. Additionally, pedestrians now make up a larger percentage of traffic fatalities than in the past.
Source:https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/man-57-killed-in-hit-and-run-crash-in-stone-park/
