LINCOLN PARK — A 73-year-old woman hit by an Uber driver’s car as she walked across a street in Lincoln Park this week suffered a severe head injury and was hospitalized in a coma for days, police and her lawyer said.
Mary McKeever’s condition has improved since the 3 p.m. Wednesday crash, but she remains in critical condition, said Francis Patrick Murphy, her attorney at Corboy & Demetrio.
She was injured at the intersection of North Clark Street and West Schubert Avenue, police said.
McKeever was crossing the street after a physical therapy appointment at Team Rehab, 2727 N. Clark St., and was going to visit her husband at a nearby senior living center when a driver turned left and hit her, according to Murphy.
He said the driver was going slow and stopped quickly.
A witness told Block Club the woman was not crossing at a crosswalk.
McKeever flew onto the hood of the car and hit her head on the street and developed a brain bleed as a result of the accident, Murphy said. She was rushed to Illinois Masonic Hospital and had an emergency brain surgery to stop the bleeding.
Murphy and the witness to the crash said the driver was working for Uber. Uber said its in-house “law enforcement team” was ready to cooperate with Chicago Police on the investigation.
“Our thoughts are with the woman who was injured and we hope she makes a full recovery,” an Uber spokesman said. “We stand ready to work with authorities to assist their investigation.”
The woman is now out of the coma in the intensive care unit but should be moved out of critical care soon, he said.
“This was an extremely traumatic event,” Murphy said.
Although police said there have been no arrests or citations related to the incident, McKeever’s attorney plans to file a lawsuit against the Uber driver for failing to yield to a pedestrian.
Murphy also said a nearby restaurant captured the accident on video and shared it with police, which he said showed the family and proves the driver was at fault.