Family members said the man's wife remains sedated, and when she wakes up, she'll learn her husband's life was taken in that crash. His family told ABC7 he survived cancer twice and almost died from COVID-19, only to be killed by someone who, police say, ran through a red light.
The crash occurred at about 8:27 p.m. Tuesday in the 2400-block of West Jackson Boulevard, police said.
Police said the driver in a black car heading south on Western Avenue disregarded the traffic light and crashed into the victim's white sedan heading west on Jackson Boulevard.
The impact sent both vehicles careening into a pole and a fence. The driver of the black car left the scene on foot, police said.
The driver of the sedan, a 79-year-old man, was transported to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. A 62-year-old woman who was a passenger was injured and transported to Stroger Hospital, police said.
The man has been identified as Lester Jackson Jr., a two-time cancer survivor who is described as a family man. He leaves behind several grown children, including his daughter Carol Hymon, who confirmed his identity to ABC7.
"Every time I think about it, it's like I get weak. Like, it's just not fair," Hymon said. "I don't want to celebrate Father's Day, because he's not here with us. And it's going to be hard not sending him that text message and calling him."
The married couple were only 2.5 miles from home when another driver crashed into the vehicle they were in.
"It could've been your parents, and you left them there like that," Hymon said. "They said other people ran to their aid to try to get their doors opened, but he took off running. I hope they catch him."
Family members said Jackson's wife, identified by her stepchildren as Jennifer Moore Jackson, is still in critical condition at Stroger Hospital, but is expected to survive.
"She's going to be devastated... she don't know," Hymon said.
A two-time cancer survivor who also barely beat COVID, the 79-year-old retired great-grandfather is being remembered as an avid fisherman who was a vital patriarch in his family.
"He beat so much and for this one thing to take my daddy, that's devastating," Hymon said.
A mangled iron fence remained at the scene as proof of the crash that has left some in the neighborhood shocked, but not surprised.
"They travel fast all the time down Western," neighborhood resident Sarah Johnson said. "It's pretty busy cause it's a main street."
One man said he saw the aftermath of the crash moments after it happened.
"We barely seen it," he said. "We were coming in late, but it was messed up right there."
Wednesday, city workers could be seen testing the traffic signals at the intersection where the accident happened, too little too late for some who say more needs to be done to make the busy street safer.
"Sometime, they run right through the light," Johnson said. "Maybe they need to put some cameras here or something."
Police are still searching for the driver of the black sedan who took off on foot following the accident.
No one is in custody and Major Accident detectives are investigating.
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