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A memorial for Reggie outside Café Con Leche.
2012 Chicago fatality stats*:
Pedestrian: 22 (10 have been hit-and-run crashes) (the Illinois Safety Data Mart reports 30 pedestrian fatalities today)
Pedalcyclist: 5 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Transit: 8 (our last update listed 7)
Skateboard: 1 (1 is a hit-and-run crash)
Reginald “Reggie” Destin died today from injuries he sustained in a crash on October 19 while skateboarding to his car in the 1700 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in Wicker Park. He was hit by an unlicensed and uninsured driver whose blood alcohol level was 0.188 with a previous DUI; the driver didn’t stay but was quickly caught by police. The Chicago Sun-Times has an obituary:
Destin was well known in the Chicago skating community and often frequented the skateboard shop Uprise, which is a block from the accident. He had jobs working for popular skateboard companies and owned a skateboarding shop called Push near Chicago and State in the late 1990s, Fonseca said.
Grid Chicago apologizes on behalf of the Chicago Sun-Times for their inaccurate use of the word “accident”.
We are classifying this as a skateboarding crash type, even though the Illinois Department of Transportation data will likely classify it as a pedestrian crash as skateboards are not recognized as vehicles or devices (like pedalcycles). Skateboarding is sustainable transportation; if you don’t believe me go to Destin’s crash location on a warm weather day to see people skateboarding to their destinations.
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A skateboarder in Chicago, at Milwaukee Avenue and Division Street – I don’t know his name.
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Skateboarding is transportation. A happy skateboarder at Milwaukee and California Avenues – I don’t know his name either.
* The information is only accurate as of this post’s publishing time. View previous Fatality Tracker posts.