6-year-old on bike struck and killed by pickup truck backing up
BY STEFANO ESPOSITO AND TINA SFONDELES Staff Reporters August 12, 2011 6:56PM
A 6-year-old boy was killed while riding his bike in an alley behind the 8800 block of South Buffalo when a pickup truck hit him on Friday, August 12, 2011 in Chicago. | Richard A. Chapman~Sun-Times
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Updated: October 19, 2011 2:52AM
Around noon Friday, the woman went with her children to Peter Pan Playhouse Daycare in South Chicago to enroll her 6-year-old son and his 7-year-old sister — starting Monday.
But Friday afternoon, while the boy was riding his bicycle in an alley around the corner from his home near 88th and Buffalo, he was struck by a pickup truck that was backing up, police said. The boy suffered massive head injuries and was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, where he later died.
“She said she [was] going to bring them to me Monday,” said a tearful Damarie Roman, who runs the daycare at 8805 S. Burley. “I don’t know why she didn’t bring them today.’’
Late Friday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the boy, identified as Ricardo Navarro, had died.
Police identified the driver of the pickup as Jesus Alvarez, 21. He was cited for improper backing and negligent driving. He had stayed on the scene after the collision happened at 2:20 p.m. until authorities arrived, police said. Sources said he works for the city and was driving his own vehicle at the time of the crash.
The driver lives on the 8700 block of South Buffalo, just a couple doors down from where the boy lived. Roman said the driver called 911 to report the incident. She said the driver’s mother burst into tears when he was taken away by police. No one answered the door at Alvarez’s home Friday night.
Friday evening the neighborhood was teeming with children playing outside just a short distance from where Navarro was struck. A neighbor retrieved the boy’s bike, which had training wheels and yellow rims on its tires. The front wheel was mangled.
Neighbors said the little boy was always riding. “He was out there like a little rocket going back and forth,’’ said Ruben Guttierrez, 25.
Roman said she ran out of her day care Friday afternoon when she saw police.
“I was like, ‘Oh my god, it could be one of my kids that didn’t come today.’ … He would have been in my day care if she had brought him.’’
Contributing: Allison Horton
