LOGAN SQUARE — A family is searching for answers after a driver seriously injured a Logan Square man in a hit-and-run earlier this month.
Resident Amy Hansen said her father-in-law, 64-year-old Mario Cruz, was on his way to work and not far from home when another driver T-boned his car — then ran off. Cruz was left with broken bones, a collapsed lung and bleeding in his brain.
The driver who hit Cruz’s car hasn’t been taken into custody, though police appear to have information about who he could be, Hansen said.
The crash happened about 5 a.m. July 8 in the 3400 block of West Diversey Avenue, according to a police report Hansen shared with Block Club.
Cruz was heading north on Kimball and was driving through the intersection at a green light when another driver in a 2020 GMC Terrain hit Cruz’s car, according to the police report. Police said the Terrain’s driver was speeding and ignored a red light.
Hansen said her father-in-law never saw the other driver coming.
“The other car, basically, T-boned him on the driver side, spun him around — don’t know how many times, but spun him around enough that he hit that light pole by the Bank of America, on the passenger rear side,” Hansen said.
Photos of Cruz’s car shows the driver’s side smashed in. Fire and rescue crews had to pull out the 64-year-old.
The Terrain’s driver was not there when police arrived, and witnesses said he’d ran off and left his car at the intersection, according to the police report. Videos from the area show the crash and the Terrain’s driver running away, according to the report.
Detectives are investigating, though no one is custody, police said.
Cruz was hospitalized and left with several broken ribs, bruises, a collapsed lung and bleeding in his brain, though Hansen said he’s recovering. He hasn’t yet been evaluated to determine what long-last effects he could face, she said.
Now, Cruz’s family is looking for any information that could help them find the other driver.
The police report does not list who the other driver would be, but it says they have his insurance information and he’s a 35-year-old man.
The family doesn’t know how police got the other driver’s insurance information, as officers haven’t “said much of anything,” Hansen said.
But when Hansen’s family contacted Cruz’s insurance company to file a claim, they were told the other driver also uses that insurance — and had reported an accident on his policy, Hansen said. The company has not provided Cruz’s family with information identifying the other driver.
“We do know that the driver or the person who owns the car did file a claim with their insurance company the same day as the accident,” Hansen said. “All of which makes the delays by the police more frustrating.”
Police spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.
With the difficulties Cruz is facing, Hansen and her family are focused on supporting his recovery.
Cruz, a fairly active man before the accident, is already looking forward to getting better, Hansen said.
“Even a couple days after the accident, he was asking about when he’d be able to go back to work,” Hansen said. “We kept having to remind them, ‘Hey, we don’t know the answer to that. We have to wait and see how you’re going to recover.’”
But the hit-and-run was a wakeup call for Cruz, who’s now considering retiring despite loving his job.
“He’s thinking he may need to make a change in his life,” Hansen said. “He’s close to retirement, so he’s thinking this may have been a sign.”
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call investigators at 312-745-4521. Tips can also be submitted anonymously online.
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