Two women crossing Chicago streets were killed in separate hit-and-run crashes less than three hours apart overnight, and in both cases the driver fled the scene, the Chicago Police Department said in initial statements reported on Thursday, November 12. A 69-year-old woman was struck by a white sedan in West Garfield Park on the West Side late on Wednesday night, and a 48-year-old woman was struck by a white truck in Grand Crossing on the South Side shortly after midnight. Neither driver had been arrested by Thursday morning, and police had not released either woman's name.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
The two deaths pushed the number of pedestrians killed on Chicago surface streets this year to 23, according to Streetsblog Chicago's fatality tracker, which compiles media reports and preliminary Chicago police data. The overnight crashes also continued a deadly week on the city's streets: within the previous seven days, a Chicago police officer fatally struck an e-scooter rider and an SUV driver killed a 67-year-old man riding an electric motorcycle.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
West Garfield Park: 69-year-old killed on Madison Street
According to the initial Chicago police statement, at around 9:45 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11, the 69-year-old woman was crossing Madison Street at Keeler Avenue in West Garfield Park. A westbound white sedan struck her in the 4200 block of West Madison Street, knocked her to the ground and fled the scene, police said. She suffered severe body trauma and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Source: WFB News (FOX 32 Chicago reporting), Nov 12, 2026
Area Four detectives are investigating the West Garfield Park crash. Police released no description of the driver and no description of the vehicle beyond its colour, and no arrests had been announced by Thursday morning. Chicago police's News Affairs office had no updates on the case on Thursday morning, Streetsblog Chicago reported.
Source: Chicago Focal, Nov 12, 2026
Grand Crossing: 48-year-old killed on 71st Street
According to the initial police statement, at about 12:23 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, a 48-year-old woman was crossing in the 300 block of East 71st Street in Grand Crossing when the driver of a white truck struck her and then fled westbound. She was taken to the University of Chicago Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Police News Affairs had no updates on this incident on Thursday morning either, and no arrest had been announced.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
Two different roads, the same danger after dark
The two crossings look different on a map, but both are places where people on foot share space with fast-moving traffic. At Madison and Keeler, the street has a pedestrian island and painted bike lanes, but it also carries five mixed-traffic lanes, a layout that encourages speeding, Streetsblog Chicago noted. East 71st Street at the Grand Crossing crash site is a narrower two-lane street with painted bike lanes. Both crashes happened in darkness — one in the late evening, one just after midnight — and in both cases the person on foot was crossing the street when she was hit.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
The overnight deaths came at the end of a week that had already underlined the risk. On Thursday, November 5, at around 12:40 a.m., a Chicago police officer fatally struck a 35-year-old man riding an e-scooter near 32nd Street and Princeton Avenue in Armour Square. On Friday, November 6, at around 4:30 a.m., an SUV driver struck and killed Talpos Loan, 67, who was riding what appeared to be an electric motorcycle at Peterson and Jersey avenues in North Park. Streetsblog's tracker notes that cases may be reclassified as more is learned about the vehicles involved.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
What happens next
Both investigations are in their earliest stage. Detectives in the West Garfield Park case are working with only a vehicle colour — a white sedan — and investigators in Grand Crossing know the second vehicle only as a white truck that fled westbound on 71st Street. The Cook County medical examiner's office is expected to confirm both women's identities. Under Illinois law, a driver who leaves the scene of a crash involving a death faces felony prosecution, and hit-and-run investigations typically turn on surveillance video from nearby buildings and on witnesses coming forward — neither of which police had announced by Thursday morning.
Source: Streetsblog Chicago, Nov 12, 2026
Known: two women, aged 69 and 48, were killed crossing streets in West Garfield Park (9:45 p.m. Wednesday) and Grand Crossing (12:23 a.m. Thursday); both drivers fled, one in a white sedan, one in a white truck. Not yet known: either woman's name, any fuller vehicle description, and whether any camera captured either crash. Police had announced no arrests by Thursday morning.
For residents of the West and South Sides, the two crashes are a reminder of how exposed people on foot remain on Chicago's wide arterial streets after dark, even at crossings with pedestrian islands and marked bike lanes. Streetsblog Chicago's running count — 23 pedestrians, three bicyclists, four e-scooter riders and three electric-motorcycle riders killed on surface streets so far in 2026 — is based on media reports and preliminary police data and may change as investigations conclude. This report will be updated when police name the victims or announce an arrest.