Driver charged with reckless homicide for running down Tadeusz Jakowski last summer in Portage Park

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 22 Apr 2016 11:49:34 -0500

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 walking in the crosswalk, authorities said.

Jakowski, 60, 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.

Prosecutors said another car had stopped for Jakowski, who was in the crosswalk, and Rojas drove around the other vehicle and struck the pedestrian at a high rate of speed.

Rojas, who did stop and call 911 after realizing he had hit someone, 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 on Thursday, according to the Cook County state's attorney's office.

Rojas, of the 6400 block of North Glenwood, was ordered held on a $250,000 bond Friday.

--Chicago Sun-Times Wire

Alejandro Rojas | Homicide Watch Chicago

Driver charged with reckless homicide for running down Tadeusz Jakowski last summer in Portage Park