Within minutes, Scotty McKinney went from scrolling through his phone in bed to frantically flagging down cars in hopes of getting someone to help him move a critically injured man from the middle of the road after an SUV ran into the man early Wednesday on the Northwest Side.
When no one helped — and one even drove around him — he decided to take matters into his own hands.
“I was like, ‘Oh, f - - - it, I’ll drag him myself,’” McKinney, 26, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “I was definitely shocked. It was intense.”
McKinney, 26, was “gearing down for the day,” relaxing in bed and scrolling through his phone inside his apartment in the 3600 block of West Diversey Avenue around 2:40 a.m. when he and his roommate heard what sounded like a “tiny car crash” outside.
When McKinney’s roommate looked outside to see what the sound was, she saw the man lying in the street in a puddle of blood and called 911 as McKinney rushed outside.
“We had thought a car hit another car, so [the driver] must’ve hit this guy really f - - - - - - hard,” McKinney said. “I was there with him trying to untangle him from his backpack. He was completely out but he was breathing so heavily.”
According to a traffic report obtained by the Sun-Times, the victim, a 44-year-old man, was crossing the street when a westbound SUV, which had a green light, hit him and left the scene. He ended up on the south side of Diversey Avenue and his belongings, along with one shoe, were found near him, according to the report.
McKinney began waving down cars to try and get someone’s attention to help him move the man from the middle of the street. He even darted in front of one driver, who just drove around McKinney and kept going.
That’s when McKinney, who does not know the victim, grabbed the man’s collar and hauled him to the side of the road to avoid him getting hit again.
“I don’t know how to save a guy’s life,” said McKinney, who said he’d never jumped to action like he did early Wednesday. “I was really hoping he wasn’t gonna die right there.”
An ambulance arrived in about seven minutes, and the Belmont Cragin man was taken in critical condition to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center with a brain bleed and fractures to his right knee, both fibulas and both tibias, according to police. The victim’s condition was not immediately available Thursday. Relatives could not be reached for comment.
Surveillance footage captured the SUV traveling on Central Park Avenue from North Avenue minutes after the crash. Police released images of the vehicle, which is dark gray with four doors and yellow Illinois temporary plates.
McKinney, who hasn’t spoken to the victim or the victim’s family, stressed that it was “absolutely important to him” for police to find the driver of the SUV.
“You actively are doing harm and decided right then and there” not to stop and render aid or call 911, McKinney said of the driver. “They need to be held responsible.”
The victim’s relatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call 312-745-4521 or submit an anonymous tip at CPDTIP.com.
