Nakari Campbell still doesn’t remember much of the day the driver ran her over.
She was crossing the street in a crosswalk blocks from her West Town home when a car turned left at an intersection and struck her, flipping her onto the hood of the red Mercedes, witnesses told police. She fell off the car, which then dragged her and ran her over. The driver fled, leaving the front grill of the car behind, the license plate number locked in the minds of the witnesses and Campbell so badly injured she missed the first months of her senior year of high school.
Campbell doesn’t remember any of that. She doesn’t remember getting her hair done earlier that day, or getting ready before she left that Friday night to see friends, but that’s what her mom has told her.
What has happened in the months since the August crash is much clearer to Campbell: She spent weeks in the hospital and a rehabilitation center, where she celebrated her 18th birthday. Her family sued the man believed to own the car. She eventually returned to school.
And in that time, police have made no arrests for the crash.
“I just want this man off the streets,” Campbell said.
Serious or fatal traffic crashes with pedestrians or cyclists in Chicago, like the one involving Campbell, often fail to lead to charges or citations, a Chicago Tribune analysis of Chicago police data shows. Of more than 4,000 such crashes between 2018 and mid-November 2023 reviewed by the Tribune, traffic tickets or more serious violations were listed in about 26% of cases.
The absence of an arrest, for those injured or the families of those killed, can feel like a failure to serve justice, and advocates say the rate of enforcement sends a message that police don’t take crashes involving cyclists and pedestrians seriously enough.
Transportation experts are quick to point out that enforcement is just one piece of road safety. But, as city officials look to encourage more pedestrians and cyclists to use Chicago’s streets, some say enforcement after crashes comes down to fairness.
For Campbell and her mom, repercussions for the driver who struck her would bring relief. Knowing the driver was off the streets would make Campbell feel more comfortable walking around parts of her neighborhood again, she said.
For months, she has avoided the area around Division Street and Ashland Avenue. When her mom drove her to school, they took an alternate route. If she was in a ride-share that drove through the intersection, she put her head down or covered her eyes.
“We can’t be OK with this,” Campbell’s mom, Imari Bibbs, said. “We have to let the world feel this, because I don’t want it to be nobody else getting away with things like this.”
Fatal pedestrian and cyclist crashes, 2018-2023
A Tribune investigatioin found more than 200 fatal crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists between 2018 and Nov. 17, 2023. Information about fatalities and the locations of the crashes reflect what is reported by Chicago police.
The Tribune’s review, based on crash data obtained from Chicago police, focused on crashes in the city involving pedestrians and cyclists between 2018 and Nov. 21. In each of the crashes, at least one person was killed or injured in a manner police describe as “incapacitating,” which are serious injuries that can prevent a person from walking or driving, like severe lacerations, broken limbs, or skull, chest or abdominal injuries.
The review relied on data obtained by the Tribune from police, which can have gaps. For example, the data doesn’t capture every fatality, and only includes citations that are listed in police’s traffic crash application. Some cases where a person died several days later, or where citations or charges were issued after the crash, are missing from the information provided by police.
Still, the data shows those involved in serious or fatal crashes with pedestrians or cyclists often escape legal consequences.
The Chicago Police Department declined an interview about the rate of enforcement and did not answer written questions. In a statement, they said, “The Chicago Police Department investigates all major vehicular accidents thoroughly. Arrests are made and charges are sought in these investigations dependent on the circumstances of the case and the evidence available. We will continue to work toward justice for all those who have been victims of any criminal actions.”
Police also did not answer a question about why citations or charges have not been filed in the crash involving Campbell, saying only that the investigation is still open.
The crash left Campbell with broken ribs, a broken bone in her neck, missing teeth, a torn-up heel and scars across her body, including where she needed surgery on the artery in her neck. Her mom said the crash “puzzled” her daughter’s body.
Campbell is now back on her feet and is looking forward to prom and graduation.
But knowing the driver who struck her is still out there remains a frustration.
“I feel like the cops are just saying, ‘Forget about the situation,’ because there’s nothing being done yet,” Campbell said.
Her attorney, Cierra Norris, said the case seems to be an example of “selective justice.” She thinks police have decided not to investigate the crash as fully as they should.
“Who decides she’s not good enough to pull a couple of cameras? Who makes that decision, and are we OK with it?” Norris asked.
In a traffic crash report, police said witnesses identified the car that struck Campbell and provided the license plate number. Police tried to contact the registered owner of the vehicle, and the person’s mother answered the door. The mother said her son refused to talk to police, according to the report.
Police also put out a community alert two days after the crash describing the car and its license plate, and asking anyone with information to submit tips.
The family has filed a civil lawsuit against the man they say is the owner of the car that hit Campbell. A separate civil lawsuit accuses a man with the same name of being the driver in another crash the same night blocks from where Campbell was struck, and attorneys in both cases believe they are the same man.
An attorney for the man declined to comment on his behalf.
Attorney Brendan Kevenides, whose work focuses on bike and pedestrian crashes, said the failure to make arrests or issue tickets means drivers have little incentive to be cautious around cyclists and pedestrians.
Whether a citation is issued seemingly comes down to which police officer responds, he said. Laws on the books address common issues like dooring, where a cyclist is hit by a car door opening into their path, or fleeing the scene of a crash, but they need to be enforced, he said.
“There’s a lot of people in the city who are hostile to people on bikes,” he said. “They think we slow down traffic, that bike lanes are a waste of money. And police officers are people too. I’m sure there’s a large contingent within the CPD that feels that way.”
Citations can be a key factor in getting insurance companies to pay for those hit by cars, said Colin Cameron, an attorney who handles bike, pedestrian and car crashes. Without a citation, insurance companies often refuse to pay, saying they can’t verify the facts of the case. The next option is for attorneys like Cameron to file a lawsuit against the other party in the crash, dragging out an expensive process, he said.
“It almost seems like a lot of the responding officers don’t really know how to handle those cases, and what the cyclist has the right to do and where they have the right to be on the road,” he said.
Many traffic crashes are hit-and-runs, creating another complication in identifying a driver and citing someone at fault. But that is little consolation for the family of Ja’lon James, who was struck by a car and killed near his North Lawndale home when he was 11.
Ja’lon and his brother had gone out to get milk from the corner store for their cereal one morning in June 2022, their mother recalled. Police said in a report that video showed the car going through a yellow traffic light, then hitting Ja’lon as he crossed the street at the end of his block. The vehicle dragged Ja’lon halfway down the block before the driver stopped briefly, then took off, according to the crash report.
Some 20 months later, police have made no arrests. A police spokesperson said the investigation is still open, and declined to comment further on the case.
Ja’lon loved Christmas and dressing up for Halloween. He and some of his six siblings were active at a nonprofit boxing club in the neighborhood called The Bloc. He loved the online game Roblox, and the characters decorated his casket, said his mom, Naquita Harrison.
He spent the last full day of his life with his cousins at a family outing at the beach, eating sandwiches and playing in the water, Harrison said. His family couldn’t hold him back from trying to head out deeper into the lake, she said.
Harrison still keeps posters and banners from her son’s funeral in her apartment. Photos of Ja’lon and his twin, Ja’len, line her tables. A cardboard cutout of her son serves as a two-dimensional reminder of the child who was once funny and energetic.
She considers her son’s death murder. The driver must have felt the impact of her son’s body hitting the car, she figures. The driver must have known what happened if they stopped the vehicle before taking off, she thinks.
The neighborhood swirled with rumors identifying the driver after Ja’lon’s death, and Harrison and her mother have been outspoken in their quest for information. Arresting the driver would bring a measure of justice, and a chance for Harrison to face the person in court, she said.
But in nearly two years, they have heard little from police about the case, she said.
“They just swept it underneath the rug,” she said.
Advocates said they aren’t surprised by the failure to make arrests in cases like Campbell’s and Ja’lon’s, or to issue citations in many cases. In some crashes, officers might sympathize with vehicle drivers, said Anne Alt, president of the Chicago Cycling Club who works as a paralegal with Kevenides.
Better-designed roads that include features like bike lanes and lower speed limits can prevent crashes in the first place so there doesn’t need to be as much enforcement. But there is a role for enforcement, Alt said, because it will take time to redesign roads and crashes will occur even with road safety improvements.
Mark Chung, who oversees road safety efforts at the National Safety Council, said enforcement is a piece of the pedestrian and cyclist safety picture. Safer vehicles, drivers and road design are important, but citations or other remedial action can also play a role if they improve driver education and safety, he said.
The topic is increasingly important as fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists have spiked nationwide in recent years, Chung said. Walkers and bikers are key members of the group considered “vulnerable road users,” which includes those who use a road who are not in a motor vehicle.
In Illinois, vulnerable road user deaths rose 22% between 2018 and 2022, peaking in 2021 at 250, according to a November report from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Serious injuries to pedestrians and cyclists declined during that time.
To at least one organization, enforcement doesn’t have any role in improving road safety. Rather, it comes down to building roads that encourage drivers to move slower or use public transportation, said José Manuel Almanza Jr., director of advocacy and movement building for the equity-focused mobility organization Equiticity.
Almanza acknowledges Equiticity has focused more on traffic stops, which have drawn scrutiny over concerns about racial disparities, than issuing tickets or filing charges related to traffic crashes. Regardless, he thinks building safer roads is a better use of limited resources than putting more toward traffic enforcement, he said.
The Chicago Department of Transportation deferred questions about crash enforcement to police, but spokesperson Erica Schroeder said in a statement that the agency has “increased the pace and scope of traffic safety improvements in recent years,” adding more pedestrian safety measures and expanding the city’s bike lanes and paths. Traffic deaths overall in Chicago decreased from 2021 to 2022, and the trend appeared to continue in 2023, she said.
Under a new ordinance, the city’s Transportation Department will be required to analyze every fatal traffic crash that is reported to police and crash trends, and identify ways to increase road safety. Already, the department has found most traffic deaths in the city involve reckless behavior by drivers and, in the last four years, two-thirds of traffic deaths involved a driver speeding. More than half of pedestrian deaths were hit-and-run crashes, Schroeder said.
“Chicago will continue taking a multidimensional approach to reducing serious traffic crashes and fatalities, including making sustained investments in infrastructure improvements, strengthening community partnerships to identify and program local safety initiatives and enforcing rules of the road,” she said.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias frequently bikes around Chicago with his three daughters, the youngest of whom rides along in a toddler seat. Giannoulias, whose office records traffic violations that go on drivers’ records, said it is up to the state legislature to create road safety laws and penalties, and to police to enforce the laws.
“We think (enforcement is) a huge component to this,” he said. “If there’s a role that we can play, we’re happy to play a direct or ancillary role, but that’s not up to us. We are not the police, we cannot enforce any of these laws.”
Giannoulias’ office is proposing measures intended to boost cyclist and pedestrian safety, including requiring drivers to change lanes or slow down to pass cyclists and including more bike and pedestrian safety rules in driver’s education curriculum and on drivers’ tests.
Kevenides, the attorney, said Chicago could also adopt a rule that requires drivers involved in crashes with cyclists to prove they were not negligent in order to avoid legal consequences. That could spark insurance companies to help educate drivers on better road habits, he said.
In the meantime, Campbell is continuing to heal and move forward. She’s hoping to attend Malcolm X College after high school and eventually become a lawyer.
She thinks she has won the hardest part of her battle, coming out ahead against a car more than 20 times her weight. Now, she is waiting for the driver who ran her over to face consequences.
“I’m confused on how everyone’s OK with this person just living their regular life,” she said, “like he didn’t do anything.”
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