Police in La Grange were still investigating yesterday how a 30-year-old Countryside woman was struck and killed by a vehicle as she bent down while trying to lift her baby's stroller onto a curb at 47th Street and 8th Avenue shortly before noon May 19.
A police dispatcher, reading from a prepared press release issued a full day earlier following the reported death pronouncement of mother of two Cari Cook at 1:20 p.m. May 19, would not stray from the text with answers to any followup questions, saying only that there was nobody in custody in connection with the fatal accident and that as of 2 p.m. no charges had been filed.
Although neighbors of the intersection indicated the accident was not a hit and run as police speculated the day of the crash, the department has only said the incident remains under investigation by the Illinois State Police and the Cook County State's Attorneys Office.
However, on May 20, police clarified earlier remarks by saying the accident was definitely not a hit-and-run, as the driver of the vehicle pulled over and offered assistance after striking the victim. A second vehicle which witnesses said swerved around that car at the time of the crash also is being sought.
At about 11:40 a.m., police said, Cook was out for a walk with her 4-month-old son walking beside her and her 2-year-old daughter strapped inside a stroller when she bent over to lift the carriage onto the curb after crossing south against traffic and was struck by an eastbound vehicle.
The boy, Carson Robert, suffered a fractured leg, but his older sister was determined to be unharmed after being examined at Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital and released that day. It is the same hospital where his mother and sister were transported by paramedics.
The posted speed is 35 mph through that stretch of 47th Street between a light at LaGrange Road and a four-way stop intersection at East/Eberly avenues, however traffic typically exceeds the posted limit as motorists are usually trying to beat the freight trains that cross up ahead.
It was not known if speed or any other factor played a role in the crash -- at what neighbors call a "terrible" intersection in part because it is a pedestrian access route in which the sidewalks do not evenly meet up on either side of the street.
The family members were "fairly new" parishioners at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church in neighboring Western Springs, according to a church secretary who indicated they were not very well known yet. Father David Dowdle was not immediately available for comment.
Cook, listed in an Illinois High School Association website as a certified volleyball instructor, was a member of the parish with her husband Matthew and their children. Their son was just baptized there at a special ceremony on May 3.
Funeral arrangements were still pending at presstime.
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My heart goes out to the family. I have tried crossing 47th at that same intersection and it's a very dangerous cross. This is a tragedy that could have been prevented had the Village of LaGrange provided safe and adequate sidewalks to those walking throughout it's town. Sidewalks north of 47th direct walkers across 47th with no accepting sidewalk on the other south side leaving them stranded in the busy street. My family lives 2 blocks from where this awful accident occured and we do not have sidewalks on my street to provide a safe route for my 2 young children to walk to school or to a park. We are forced to walk on the street with the passing cars. This is unacceptable. If the Village of LaGrange can give $1,000,000.00 to the owners of the movie theater to spruce it up, one would hope it can foot the bill to provide safe and adequate sidewalks to allow for people to walk to schools and parks. One would hope that the safety of the community would be a higher priority than giving a million dollars to help renovate a movie theater.
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