Person questioned in hit-and-run that killed cyclist in Irving Park, across street from where a cyclist died in 2019

Police are questioning someone in connection to a hit-and-run that killed a bicyclist Wednesday night in Old Irving Park, across the street from where another cyclist was fatally struck three years ago.

Nick Parlingayan was riding north in the 3800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when he was hit by a driver in a black 2022 Nissan Versa, Chicago police said.

Parlingayan, 22, fell off his bike and struck his head around 9:20 p.m., according to police. Paramedics found him unconscious on the street and took him to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Another driver saw the crash from his rearview mirror, telling police that he could see sparks coming from Parlingayan’s bike, according to a police traffic crash report.

A manager of a business on the block told police their security cameras likely captured the crash, according to the report.

Police said the wanted vehicle has damage to its front bumper and headlight.

A person of interest was being questioned, police said Thursday afternoon. No charges have been announced.

CPD

In November 2019, another bicyclist, Carla Aiello, was fatally struck by a truck driver across the street from where Parlingayan was hit. A “ghost bike” memorial for her death is still there, said Christina Whitehouse, director of Bike Lane Uprising, which advocates for bicyclist safety.

“We’re going to have two ghost bikes potentially looking at each other,” Whitehouse said. She said Milwaukee has more ghost bike memorials than another other roadway in the city. “It’s just a really dangerous area,” she said.

The bike lanes on that stretch of Milwaukee were almost completely faded when Aiello was killed there in 2019, Whitehouse said. It wasn’t until a citizen tried painting lines themselves that the city repainted them and installed flex posts, she said.

Two other bicyclists have been struck and killed by drivers in Chicago this year. In April, Paresh Chhatrala died days after he was hit by a driver while biking in the West Loop. In February, a driver fatally struck a bicyclist, Gerardo Marciales, on DuSable Lake Shore Drive near Buckingham Fountain.

Police asked anyone with information to call CPD’s Major Accident Investigation Unit at (312) 745-4521.

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times