CTA Releases Video of Woman Killed By Bus

Ludwika Szynalik was run over by a CTA bus on New Year's Eve, and now her family is suing the transit authority, saying the bus driver behind the wheel of the 152 was negligent. Szynalik was getting her bike off the bus's front-mounted rack when the driver ran her over. She was dragged for 80 feet before the driver noticed, and she died later that day. The whole thing was caught on CTA surveillance video, and it's really fucking disturbing.

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Szynalik, 59, is survived by her two sons and three grandchildren. [ABC 7, Trib, CBS2]

Comments (10) [rss]

Nice.... " Hi I ran over a 69 year old grandmother cool enough and with enough heart to bike Winter"

Out of all the old ladies in the world he had to pick this one!

You Go Szynalik. Big ups to you with your bike at the pearly gates. I see you!

This is one lawsuit that is not frivolous.

No snark. I hope that this family gets a fair settlement.

Wait a second. I thought all bikers were menacing "assholes" bent on terrorizing helpless pedestrians. Can some Chicagoist user with bizarre anger issues tell me how I'm supposed to process this??

Love how at the end of the ABC7 report they twist the knife in a little more by saying "Of course, if you're going to be removing a bike from the bike rack you're supposed to notify the driver that you are doing so. Although Szynalik leans over a couple of times to driver it's unclear if she said anything since there is no audio with the tape."

So why even throw that in at the end? The woman had been doing this every day for years. I don't take a CTA bus very often but someone help me out: don't you usually take the same bus to and from work? Or close enough that you start to recognize the drivers? And do they not sometime recognize you? I'd think a 59 year old Polish woman with a bike would be pretty memorable.

This is horrifying, but the photo on the post is a woman who is seconds away from a terrible, painful death. Was it necessary to post it?

@HGR: Since she wasn't on the bike she wasn't technically a biker. Therefore it's ok to project your anger towards the CTA. If you have any other questions about how to deal with conflicting messages in Chicago please do not hesitate to ask.

- The City of Chicago's Welcoming Committee

"Bus-ted"? What is wrong with you? OH HA HA a funny pun because she got RUN OVER by a BUS! Hilarious. And classy.

Yeah that's pretty poor taste.

I hope they get rid of those bike racks. I ryde my bike year round (going on 16 years now) and i've never used those bike racks, it kinda defeats the purpose of riding a bike.
If your going very far don't take your bike!!!

I hope that lady gets justice.

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