• 17
  • February
    2012

Six years after their 4-year-old daughter died in a tragic hit-and-run accident across from the Lincoln Park Zoo, the child's parents are bringing a lawsuit against the estate of the driver and the city of Chicago, claiming they both played a role in the little girl's death. According to the Chicago Tribune, the 4-year-old was killed when walking in a crosswalk with her mother and 6-year-old brother.

The city of Chicago contests the pretrial filings, saying it was the driver alone who caused the accident. The driver died in prison after he was criminally convicted for leaving the scene of the fatal accident, but the parents are suing his estate for the wrongful death of their daughter. Now, the family expects the trial date to be set and their lawsuit to proceed.

The lawsuit alleges that the city played an important role in the accident because the stop signs were too low and partially blocked by parked cars and the painted crosswalk was no longer visible to drivers. The family points to the fact that the paint used to mark the crosswalk had an expected service life of one year and that it had been nearly six years since the intersection in question had been painted. The family also says that the stop signs were posted too low and on the side of the light poles, both of which did not follow federal traffic regulations. In conjunction with no-parking signs that were too close to the stop sign, which blocked the stop sign and crosswalk from sight, there was an increased risk of a dangerous accident.

The Tribune reports that the driver blew through the intersection and did not stop after he crushed the 4-year-old and injured her mother and brother. While the mother assumed the driver would stop, it seems he ignored or didn't see the stop sign that would have saved the young girl's life.

Source: Chicago Tribune, "Pedestrian dangers on trial 6 years after child's hit-and-run death," Jon Hilkevitch, Feb. 6, 2012