79-year-old man dies six days after South Side crash

A 79-year-old man died six days after he was involved in a crash in the South Side Chatham neighborhood.

George Gaitor was driving in the 700 block of East 79th Street at 9:20 p.m. Nov. 2 when he drifted left of the center line and struck another vehicle, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The impact caused his vehicle to strike two poles, a parking meter box on the sidewalk, and a brick storefront, police said.

Gaitor, a Washington Heights neighborhood resident, was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died at 3:57 p.m. Nov. 8, authorities said.

The occupants of the other vehicle refused medical attention, police said.

An autopsy found Gaitor died of complications of cervical spinal injuries from the crash, with heart disease and a gastrointestinal hemorrhage listed as contributing factors, according to the medical examiner’s office. His death was ruled an accident.