A 54-year-old Garfield Ridge man died early Tuesday afternoon after a hit-and-run driver in a blue pickup truck slammed into his e-bike at the intersection of Archer and Laramie avenues, the same Southwest Side corner where a pedestrian was killed a year earlier. Juan Martin Marquez Luna was struck around 5:15 a.m. Monday and later succumbed to his injuries, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Police told the Chicago Tribune that a blue pickup truck struck a black sedan that was turning at the intersection before the pickup continued on and hit Marquez Luna while he was riding his e-bike. The truck's driver fled the scene, leaving Marquez Luna, a Garfield Ridge resident, with what an autopsy performed Wednesday determined were multiple blunt force injuries. He was initially listed in critical condition and taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died early Tuesday afternoon.
ABC7 Chicago's earlier report on the crash, citing the Chicago Fire Department, similarly described officers responding to the Garfield Ridge neighborhood's 5600-block of South Archer Avenue around 5:15 a.m. after a blue pickup truck struck a black sedan that was turning at the intersection before hitting a 54-year-old man on an e-bike, as ABC7 Chicago reported at the time. That outlet noted the e-bike rider suffered multiple injuries and was transported to Christ Hospital in critical condition, and confirmed that CPD's Major Accidents Unit was investigating. As of Wednesday night, Chicago police reported no updates in the case, and the Major Accidents Investigation Unit continued to investigate.
A Familiar and Deadly Intersection
Monday's crash came roughly 16 months after Maria Ochoa Flores was struck and killed at the same intersection while walking just blocks from her home. CBS News reported that Ochoa Flores, identified in that outlet's coverage as 84 years old, was run over when two cars collided in the Garfield Ridge intersection, with a silver vehicle turning left onto northbound Laramie Avenue struck by a gray sedan before the force of the crash sent the silver car careening into her. She died from her injuries at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to CBS News.
Streetsblog Chicago's account of the same crash identified Ochoa as 88 years old, describing how a silver SUV turning left was struck by a gray sedan and then hit Ochoa in the crosswalk, according to Streetsblog Chicago. Her son, Fernando Ochoa, told CBS News that his mother was crossing the street when she died and said plainly, “This has to end.” The family has called for additional safety measures at the intersection, including speed bumps and cameras.
A Pattern of Crashes Along Archer Avenue
The Chicago Lawn police district, which includes Garfield Ridge and several other Southwest Side neighborhoods, has historically seen more crashes than other police districts, per the Tribune's reporting. Streetsblog Chicago's coverage points to a string of prior tragedies along the same corridor: Jan Kopec, 83, was fatally struck by a left-turning pickup driver while riding his bicycle at Archer and Kostner in August 2020, and Zofia Chruszcz, 72, and her husband Ryszard Stebnicki, 75, were fatally struck in a crosswalk at Archer and McVicker avenues in February 2024. A 73-year-old woman was also hospitalized with minor injuries after being struck while crossing Archer at Laramie on June 4, in a crash where the driver was cited, the same outlet reported.
Streetsblog Chicago has argued that a four-to-three lane conversion, or road diet, is badly needed on Archer to create space for wider sidewalks or protected bike lanes and to encourage slower driving. The outlet also reported that the only speed cameras along Archer Avenue on the Southwest Side are located at Pulaski Road, well away from the Laramie intersection where both fatal crashes occurred.
Hit-and-run crashes have proven deadly elsewhere on the Southwest Side as well. A 53-year-old man was killed in a hit-and-run crash on Chicago's Southwest Side after an orange Honda SUV struck him and fled, according to Fox 32 Chicago. That crash happened around 11:12 p.m. in the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road in the West Lawn neighborhood.
No arrests or citations connected to Monday's crash have been publicly confirmed, and police said there were no updates as of Wednesday night. The Major Accidents Investigation Unit continues to investigate Marquez Luna's death as residents and advocates renew calls for changes at an intersection that has now claimed two lives in little more than a year.
