A North Side man has been charged in connection with a 2015 crash that killed Tadeusz Jakowski as he walked in the Portage Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
Alejandro Rojas |Chicago Police
Alejandro Rojas, 28, was charged Thursday with one felony count of reckless homicide, according to Chicago Police.
About 4:45 p.m. July 23, 2015, Rojas was driving in the 5300 block of North Central when his vehicle struck a man in the crosswalk, authorities said.
Jakowski, 60, was crossing Central Avenue in the crosswalk and a white car heading northbound on Central stopped at the intersection to turn westbound onto Cornelia, Cook County prosecutors said at Rojas’ bond hearing Friday.
Rojas was driving a 2000 Chevrolet Trailblazer behind the white car at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said. When the white car stopped, he drove around that car and struck Jakowski in the crosswalk, tossed him into the air before landing on the ground.
Rojas stopped the Trailblazer a short distance away and called 911, prosecutors said.
Jakowski, of the 5500 block of West Berteau, was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he died at 6:53 p.m. the same day, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Rojas was initially cited for driving an uninsured vehicle and not practicing due care with a pedestrian in the roadway. But the citations were dismissed and criminal charges filed Thursday, according to the state’s attorney’s office.
Video footage caught Jakowski in the crosswalk and the SUV striking him at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said. Two witnesses also saw the crash.
Rojas admitted to changing lanes to go around the stopped car, prosecutors said. He said he heard a bang, saw a shadow and saw something fly into the air. He then noticed his driver’s side rear-view mirror was missing and saw a man lying in the road, bleeding from the mouth, prosecutors said.
Rojas, of the 6400 block of North Glenwood, was ordered held on a $250,000 bond Friday.
—Chicago Sun-Times Wire