Bicyclist fatally struck by truck in North Center

A woman riding a bicycle was fatally struck by a truck Monday morning in the North Center neighborhood.

A small flatbed truck heading north on Damen took a right turn onto Addison and struck the bicyclist about 7:50 a.m., who was also heading north on Damen, according to police.

The bicyclist was identified as 23-year-old Anastasia Kondrasheva, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Kondrasheva, of the 3600 block of West Shakespeare, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8:03 a.m., authorities said.

The driver of the truck, a 38-year-old man, remained at the scene and was cited for not taking due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian, police said. CPD’s Major Accidents Investigation Unit is looking into the crash.

A witness, who didn’t want to be named, said the light on Damen at Addison was green at the time.

“It was an accident,” said the witness.

A passing cyclist saw the body under the sheet and the mangled bike, and moments later sent out an alert to the cycling community to help identify the victim; the bike, she added, looked familiar.

“My heart broke,” the cyclist said of the moment she saw what had happened. The woman, a social worker named Meg who lives in Logan Square, declined to give her last name.

Others who were standing nearby, clearly shaken from what they’d seen, declined to comment.

John Greenfield, a contributor to The Reader and editor of the Streetsblog Chicago website, said said this was the fifth biking fatality within the city limits in 2016.

The earlier victims were Blaine Klingenberg on June 15 at Oak and Michigan; Virginia Murray on July 1 at Belmont and Sacramento; Lisa Kuivinen on Aug. 16 at Milwaukee and Racine; and Francisco Cruz on Aug. 17 at Maypole at Pulaski.

“Notably, all five crashes involved commercial vehicles,” Greenfield said. “Klingenberg was struck by a double-decker tour bus driver; Cruz was hit by a cargo van driver; and the three other victims were struck by right-turning flatbed truck drivers.”

Contributing: Jeff Mayes