Dodging danger: Alleged road hazards cause injury, death

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A war veteran is dead and a young woman is injured all because of a lack of barricades blocking dangers in the road, according to their attorneys.

The city of Chicago's law department says it responsibly erects warning signs and traffic control devices where city-sanctioned construction is happening, but the I-Team found examples where some victims would disagree.

Alla Barsky was riding her bike in the 1300-block of North California at the end of March when she ran over a soft patch of gravel construction work in a designated bike lane.

"This whole left side of my face blew up like a balloon, my eye was swollen shut basically in seconds," Barsky says. "And my wheel sunk in this soft material that I wasn't aware of. I just thought it was something solid I can clear with my bike. And as the wheel sunk in, my bike came to a halt and I flipped over the handlebars, landed on my face, basically caught the fall on my face."

Barsky says the crash tore her eyelid, broke her nose and caused nerve damage. In a lawsuit, Barsky and her attorney blame the city, saying it failed to block off an unreasonably dangerous condition.

"This was an intentional removal of the asphalt, it was intentionally creating a trench right in the middle of an area that you're mandated to travel in if you're on a bicycle and there's not a sign, not a barricade, there's not a cone," says Lou Cairo, Barsky's attorney.

A city spokesperson says an image taken from a police car early on the morning Barsky fell shows barricades and barrels 20 to 30 feet before the crash scene.

Jane Kintanar is also represented by Cairo.

"I lost my husband to a hole in the street," Kintanar says. "My husband survived two tours in Iraq, two tours in Iraq and that's how I lost him."

Kintanar is demanding $17 million from the city over her husband's crash in November of 2010 on the 2600-block of South Damen.

Carlo Kintanar, a war vet and a father, was on a motorcycle and wearing a helmet when he drove over a deep pothole in the road that may have been caused by a water main leak. Service orders show a record of pothole problems in that area.

Cairo says the area where the crash happened was not blocked off to motorists. Another, separate section in the middle of the road was blocked off.

"I close my eyes, I try to see my husband as my husband," Kintanar says. "But the only thing I can see is the image of him in the hospital bed. It didn't even look like him. "

Kintanar says that her pain has gotten worse because of the drawn out case with the city. Her attorney blames that on the city withholding some crucial pictures and video showing the severity of the hole in the ground, taken just before it was fixed.

The city says it handed over the material in February when a city attorney realized the additional evidence gathered by a consultant was not "protected from disclosure."

"The image of him the day of the accident, it haunts me every single day," Kintanar says.

Kintanar and Barsky say more warnings could have prevented tragedy.

Even though the city answered some of the I-Team's questions, the city law department says it doesn't comment specifically on pending litigation.

If you see any construction areas or dangerous potholes which you think could cause harm, you should call 311 to report them.