An attorney and community activist say legal action is being considered regarding the death of an 84-year-old grandmother who was struck and killed after a two-vehicle accident on Archer Avenue.
Garfield Ridge resident Maria Ochoa, out for an evening stroll, died after she was struck by one of the vehicles around 5:30 p.m. May 24 in the 5600 block of South Archer Avenue.
Attorney Frank Avila Jr. and community activist Raul Montes Jr. both expressed concern about safety there and about the city’s reaction to the aftermath of the fatal accident.
Ironically, another senior citizen, a 73-year-old woman, was struck at the same intersection, Archer and Laramie, on June 4 around 1:44 p.m., ABC-TV reported.
“We probably will (file a lawsuit). We’re not there yet,” Avila said on June 4.
“I want to give them time for their condolences, for their grief. But the first thing that has to be done by anyone is to investigate the situation. Find out exactly what happened. What are the facts?” Avila said.
Avila said he is “a little disappointed” in the response thus far from the Chicago Police Department.
“Archer Avenue has a lot of speeding, a lot of accidents. Right by the funeral home, there’s a bike with flowers because there was a (fatal) accident there,” Avila said.
“I’m not big on speed cameras or red-light cameras, but we need to have a police presence, at least a parked (squad) car (to convince motorists to slow down),” he said.
Asked how the family is doing, Avila said “they’re going through a lot.”
One of the sons, Fernando Ochoa, did not return a telephone message for this story.
“We should be supportive of the family. Honor the legacy of a mother, of a grandmother, and just try to help this family in their time of need.
“We don’t know everything that’s going on. That’s a lack of communication (from the city),” Avila said.
In a Southwest Regional Publishing story on May 26, another son, Alberto Ochoa, said his mother “was a good woman, never harmed nobody and was a faithful woman.”
Legal action “depends on the family,” Avila said. “We’re definitely contemplating some kind of legal action. I don’t know what.”
Right now, he said we “want more answers, more communication.”
Avila suggested that longer yellow lights, turn signals and speed bumps on side streets like Laramie could help slow down drivers and prevent accidents like this in the future.
Avila, Montes and family members held a news conference June 1 outside the Richard-Midway Funeral Home, 5749 Archer Avenue, where visitation was held.
The funeral Mass and burial were on June 2.
Montes said he was on his way to dinner the evening of May 24 when he saw the street blocked off with yellow tape.
“I don’t live far from there. I thought it was a shooting,” Montes recalled in a June 3 interview.
The fatal accident happened when one vehicle was heading west on Archer and an SUV heading eastbound “decided to make a left-hand turn on Laramie going northbound,” Montes said.
The westbound car T-boned the SUV, which flipped over “and struck the lady,” Montes said.
Ochoa was declared dead at 6:13 p.m. May 24 at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
A wrongful death lawsuit may possibly be filed, Montes said. A vigil at the site was held on May 25, he said.
Montes said the driver, a 26-year-old man, of the SUV was issued two citations, one for speeding and one for driving without insurance.
Montes said Archer Avenue has become very dangerous for motorists and pedestrians in recent years, noting how there have been numerous “takeovers where people do doughnuts on the street.”