A 22-year-old Chicago woman was ticketed for failing to yield after she attempted to turn left onto eastbound Shields Avenue from Sunnyside Avenue into the path of a westbound motorcycle driven by a 59-year-old Riverside man. He suffered serious injuries when the 2020 KTM 450 bike collided with the driver’s side of the woman’s 2015 Chevy Trax on July 22 at about 5:30 p.m.
According to the police report, the motorcyclist was wearing an open-face helmet at the time of the crash and sustained “major trauma” to his face, head and hands. He was taken to Loyola University Medical Center where he was treated for his injuries.
Police said that drugs or alcohol did not appear to have been a factor in the crash, and the woman submitted blood and urine samples, which were turned over to Illinois State Police for analysis.
The woman reportedly told police she saw the motorcycle as she approached the Sunnyside/Shields intersection and that she mistakenly hit the gas instead of the brake, accelerating into the intersection.
The motorcycle swerved to avoid the Chevy, but it hit the rear of her vehicle. Paramedics from the Brookfield Fire Department, which is located just steps from the crash location, were on scene within seconds and had the motorcyclist in an ambulance by the time police arrived.
The Shields/Sunnyside intersection was closed to traffic for nearly two hours as investigators processed the scene.
The July 22 crash was the fifth since April in Brookfield involving a motorcycle. All of the crashes resulted in serious injuries, with one of them fatal.
