Logan Square Cyclist Wants Driver Who Hit Him Found As He Recovers From Injuries

LOGAN SQUARE — Friends are raising money for a restaurant worker hit by a driver while cycling last week — and hope the driver who fled the scene will be caught.

Connor Brogan, 35, was biking eastbound on Armitage Avenue Thursday evening when he was hit by driver in a dark green Jeep pickup truck turning onto Kedzie Boulevard from Armitage, according to police and surveillance video of the crash.

In an interview, Brogan said he blacked out after getting hit while heading to work at Dante’s Pizzeria, 3028 W. Armitage Ave. He said he was cruising through a green light at Kedzie Avenue when he briefly noticed the Jeep heading toward him. The next thing he remembers, he was waking up on the ground surrounded by onlookers.

According to what he was told by witnesses and still images from surveillance video shared from Scofflaw bar nearby, the Jeep’s driver turned left and hit Brogan, who went flying off his bike and landed near the median. The Jeep sped off with the bike still underneath it after the crash.

“I don’t remember these flips and being left in the street,” Brogan said this week. “I am lucky that I don’t remember the most traumatic part of it.”

He filed a police report, which details the incident and confirms the driver fled the scene. Brogan wants to press charges if the driver is caught.

Surveillance photos show the driver looking in the direction of Brogan as he was lying face-down on the street and shows the bike still below the car.

“That is really frustrating,” Brogan said. ” … Leaving me is a different scenario” than staying and calling 911 as required by law, he said.

Brogan suffered bruising, road rash and stitches to his leg, but no broken bones or head trauma. He is grateful his injuries were not worse, but has been out of work for a week while he recovers, he said.

He does not have health insurance since he was recently let go from a job that offered it and is working two part-time jobs.

His friend, John Hopkins, started a GoFundMe fundraiser for Brogan’s recovery, which has raised over $5,000 in less than a week.

“He’s always had my back and when I’ve needed him, he’s been there,” Hopkins said. “It hurts your heart to see someone so nice, so caring and selfless to be left in the dust.”

Brogan has felt the generosity from his friends and the industry community who have donated to the fundraiser and checked in on him, he said.

The money raised will go toward his emergency room visit and medical expenses, which included a CT scan to make sure he had no internal bleeding, stitches for his leg injury and other tests to check for infections. He has follow-up care appointments coming up.

Leftover money will help him buy a new bike as it’s his main method of transportation, he said.

Brogan plans to donate any additional money to a friend who is a single mother and Logan Square bartender set to have breast cancer surgery soon.

“I will gladly pay it forward,” he said.