A driver struck a pedestrian in the 6300 block of South Damen Avenue in West Englewood Sunday evening and then fled the scene, leaving the victim in critical condition at a hospital, according to police. Chicago police are now searching for the vehicle involved and have released images of it in hopes that someone recognizes it.
According to ABC7 Chicago, police said the driver hit the person and left without stopping. The victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition, and as of the report, Chicago police said they had no further information available. Investigators are continuing to work the case and are asking anyone with information to come forward.
A Fatal Crash on South Damen Avenue
Four blocks south, a woman later died after a crash involving a motorcycle that appeared to be an all-terrain vehicle on the 6700 block of South Damen Avenue.
Englewood has also seen other severe pedestrian hit-and-runs this year. In February, two sisters, ages 6 and 15, were seriously injured walking to school along the 1700 block of West 69th Street, prompting Chicago police to issue a public bulletin seeking a 2010 Lincoln MKT, per CWB Chicago. Cases like that one typically fall to the Chicago Police Department's Major Accident Investigation Unit, which handles investigations, evidence collection, and public appeals for tips whenever a crash involves critical injury or death.
Low Odds of an Arrest, By the Numbers
Whoever struck the pedestrian on South Damen Avenue is driving away from more than just the scene of a crash. A 2026 legal analysis of Chicago municipal crash records found that police solve fewer than 1% of all hit-and-run collisions citywide each year, with the clearance rate reaching only 9.4% in cases involving severe injury or death, as previously reported by Hoodline. That clearance rate lags well behind cities like New York, which solves roughly 34.7% of comparable cases, the same analysis found.
The stakes for pedestrians caught in these crashes are especially high in Chicago. Hit-and-run drivers accounted for roughly 55% of all pedestrian fatalities in the city in 2023, more than double the national average of 24%, per the same report. Under Illinois law, leaving the scene of a crash involving injury or death is already a Class 4 felony, and the charge can escalate to a Class 1 felony carrying four to 15 years in prison if the crash goes unreported to police within 30 minutes, according to ILGA.gov.
Trauma Care and a Stalled Speed Limit Debate
If the South Damen Avenue victim needed advanced trauma care, the University of Chicago Medicine in nearby Hyde Park operates the South Side's first Level 1 adult trauma center, which opened in 2018 after the region went nearly 30 years without one.
City officials have debated lowering speed limits citywide in response to crashes like this one. Chicago's Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety advanced legislation in late 2024 to cut the default speed limit from 30 mph to 25 mph, but the full City Council instead voted in January 2025 to form an interagency working group to study equity and enforcement before any final vote, per Streetsblog Chicago.
The broader crash numbers underscore why the debate hasn't gone away. Chicago recorded 9,176 total motor vehicle collisions in September alone, a 5.7% increase over September 2025.
Chicago police have not released additional details about the driver or vehicle sought in Sunday's crash beyond the images shared with the public. Anyone with information is asked to contact investigators as the search for the driver continues.
