This is a breaking new update. The following is from a previous report.
Bicyclist killed in North Side crash remembered by colleagues
Staff at Northeastern Illinois University's Art & Design Department remembered a friend and colleague who died after a bicycle car crash Monday night.
The man killed in the crash was identified as Northeastern Illinois University faculty member Don Heggemann.
[Ads /]
"It's still really shocking," the school's Art & Design Chair Kim Ambriz said. "I feel really numb. I mean, I worked with him every single day. It was a little hard seeing nobody there. We are going to miss him."
The colleagues met with the family of Heggemann on campus Wednesday.
They said he shifted careers after taking a ceramics class at the university ten years ago, and never left. Heggemann worked as an assistant and most recently as the Art & Design Department Office Administrator.
"Don was an amazing human," ceramic instructor Dubhe Carreno said. "He was generous, he was kind, he was funny and he was collaborative. It's just unbelievable this happened."
Monday evening, Heggemann was riding his bike on Damen Avenue headed northbound. Just before Foster, he was hit by a car.
[Ads /]
A resident, John McDowell, saw what appeared to be a car in the bike lane and signaled for others to stop the motorist. Then he went to Heggemann, who was in the street.
"I just sat with him and tried to talk with him," McDowell said. "It's incredible how quickly things can turn for someone."
Chicago police said charges are pending against someone.
In the meantime, friends said that the family is planning two services. One in Chicago and one in Missouri, where he is originally from.