When Chuck Janczy hopped on the Green Line to Guaranteed Rate Field on Tuesday night time he hoped to observe a good recreation between the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers.
As a longtime Sox fan with a partial season ticket package deal in Section 109, it has been a tough season for the 64-year-old Evanston resident, and like many others he has come to anticipate the worst from this yr’s staff.
But what Janczy didn’t anticipate was to wind up in a hospital with fractured ribs after being hit by a automobile, or falling headfirst by way of the automobile’s sunroof after impression, or occurring a quick journey down the Dan Ryan Expressway throughout a pursuit of the hit-and-run driver by Chicago police that ended with a crash, or having a gun drawn on him minutes later as the motive force was being arrested.
“The whole thing is bizarre,” Janczy mentioned Saturday in a cellphone interview.
Janczy mentioned he was strolling throughout thirty fifth Street at Shields Avenue to satisfy buddies earlier than the sport Tuesday when he was certainly one of 4 folks injured within the hit-and-run accident.
Condelarious Garcia, the 20-year-old driver of the automobile, faces 4 counts of aggravated reckless driving, together with misdemeanor driving on a suspended license and three visitors citations for the incident. He was held in jail in lieu of a $20,000 bail.
According to Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt, one of many 4 victims suffered a traumatic mind harm and remained “unresponsive and intubated.” Janczy, who works on cloud-based computing for IBM, felt lucky to flee with out a extra severe harm.
“I chalk up the fact I ended up in the sunroof as the reason why I wasn’t more severely injured,” he mentioned. “I didn’t hit my head and obviously have no brain damage. I have lots of bruises and fractures, but that stuff will heal. Some of the other victims obviously have more serious, long-term problems.”
Janczy mentioned he was later advised by police that the motive force had been stopped on thirty fifth Street by visitors directors who have been permitting followers to cross a few half-hour earlier than the beginning of the sport. But the motive force allegedly grew upset about having to attend and pulled round some vehicles by going partially on the sidewalk, heading eastbound on thirty fifth.
“When he was doing that maneauver, someone in the car was going, ‘No, don’t do that, there are people walking,’” Janczy mentioned. “He just didn’t listen. He was going pretty fast when he hit me because he hit me hard.”
For causes unknown, the town has by no means thought of placing a cease mild on the nook of thirty fifth and Shields, or shutting the road down throughout video games. Fans crossing the busy road from Lots B and C have been dodging visitors on recreation days for years.
Janczy mentioned he suffered seven fractured ribs, a spiral fracture in his proper tibia and three small fractures in his backbone, forcing him to stroll with a cane for now. The bruising and swelling remained as effectively, however he mentioned that was “slowly getting better.”
Janczy couldn’t recall being on the hood or sliding up the windshield and thru the sunroof because it sped off and hanging upside-down.
“It all happened so fast, and the impact, it was such a shock to be hit,” he mentioned. “All of a sudden I come to (within the automobile) I wasn’t unconscious, however I spotted the place I used to be — upside-down within the automobile and searching on the inside the automobile.
“There was at least one person in the back. They were talking among themselves, and one person asked me, I believe twice, if I was OK. I was kind of like, ‘I don’t know. I think so.’ ”
When the automobile crashed after a police maneuver, Janczy was the final one left inside when a cop approached the car. He mentioned certainly one of them “points his gun at me and is like, ‘Get out of the car, get out of the car.’ ”
Fortunately, one other cop advised him Janczy was a sufferer, not a suspect.
A Sox consultant reached out to Janczy afterward to see if he was OK. He advised her he was.
Janczy mentioned the accident wouldn’t cease him from going to future Sox video games, although he conceded he dumped his tickets for Sunday’s recreation towards the Boston Red Sox.
“I sold them online at a loss,” he mentioned. “There’s no way I could go right now. I will go back, maybe against the St. Louis Cardinals (in July).”
His fandom didn’t take a success. Janczy known as himself the product of a “mixed marriage,” with a mom who was a die-hard Sox fan and a father who was a die-hard Cubs fan. He finally gravitated to the Sox and by no means regarded again.
In spite of the Sox’s struggles the final two seasons, he doesn’t take into account himself a typical ticked-off fan.
“Frustrated maybe,” he mentioned. “I wish they would do something different, because whatever they’re doing, obviously it isn’t working.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com