These Chicago hit and run numbers are pretty terrible

Saturday night there was a hit and run accident in Chicago. A white sedan drove through a red light and t-boned an SUV being driven by a 26-year-old woman. There were four children in the SUV and two of them were ejected when the vehicle rolled over from the force of the impact. Those two children, aged 6 and 9, were taken to a local hospital in critical condition. The driver who hit the SUV fled the scene. The car was later located but as of Sunday night the driver still hadn’t been located.

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According to figures gathered by NBC Chicago, hit and run accidents are pretty common in Chicago:

In 2021, Chicago saw a total of 37,226 hit-and-run crashes, an average of more than 100 per day that left 36 people dead and 4,807 injured, according to the city’s traffic data.

Over that same year, data from the Chicago Police Department’s own arrest portal, analyzed by NBC 5 Investigates, shows CPD made just 306 arrests on charges related to fleeing the scene of a crash.

Granted most of those 37,000 hit and run incidents are misdemeanors that involve property damage and no injuries. Still, 4,807 injuries is a lot of damage to result in just 306 arrests. That means a lot of these drivers are just getting away with it. That’s what happened in the case of Teresa Jaworecka, a 65-year-old who was killed by a hit and run driver last September. Her daughter Agata Jagielski has been pressing police to find the person responsible ever since:

Jaworecka was taken to an area hospital where she was pronounced dead. Nearly five months later, the crime remains unsolved and Jagielski says that as she grieves the loss of her mother, she’s also grown increasingly frustrated by both the pace of the Chicago Police Department’s investigation and their lack of communication.

About two weeks after the crash, Jagielski said the detective leading the investigation went on medical leave for what would ultimately be about a month, and that the other officers who answered her calls each day repeatedly told her there were no updates in the case.

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Just three weeks ago a retired Chicago police officer named Richard Haljean was killed by a driver who sped off. The impact of the collision knocked a license plate off the vehicle and it was eventually located but so far no one has been arrested.

Neighbor Jessica Jastrowki was in her living room facing Touhy when she heard a loud bang around 6:15 p.m.

“We thought my car got hit. It was a huge bang. It was really loud. I ran outside and all these cars stopped and I just saw the body in the street,” she said.

And a few days before that a mother of three was hit and killed by another driver who sped off:

Angel Thomas, 37, was struck in the 4300-block of West Jackson Boulevard as she crossed the street to get to her car. She was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital…

Thomas died just hours before her daughter’s 14th birthday.

Thomas’ family made a plea for the driver to turn themselves in but so far, no one has been arrested in that case either.

Here’s a local news report on the hit and run last weekend that seriously injured two children.

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