Family of man killed in salt truck crash sues driver who rear-ended him

The estate of a man killed in a crash involving a city salt truck and another car last month in the Far South Side Hegewisch neighborhood has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against one of the other drivers.

The suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court Friday by the executor of Victor Crosby’s estate on behalf of his five children, according to a statement from Levin & Perconti, the law firm representing the estate.

Crosby was driving a 2004 Ford SUV north on Avenue O at 1:19 a.m. on Jan. 27 when he struck the rear driver’s side of a salt truck that was traveling west on East 130th Street at the intersection, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The crash crumbled the SUV’s front end and caused one of its wheels to detach, police said.

The lawsuit claims the salt truck ran a stop sign before the crash.

A 2005 Nissan Altima that was also headed north on Avenue O then rear-ended the SUV, police said.

Crosby was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. He lived in the East Side neighborhood.

The driver of the Nissan, 27-year-old Jordan Gomez, ran away from the scene of the crash on foot and turned himself in to police several hours later, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. He was charged with a felony count of failure to report an accident involving death and issued multiple traffic citations, including driving without insurance.

Prosecutors said Crosby’s shoes were found outside his vehicle and his body was found underneath Gomez’s Nissan.

The three-count lawsuit charges Gomez with negligence and wrongful death and seeks at least $100,000 in damages from him.

It also names the City of Chicago and the driver of the salt truck as respondents in discovery, claiming they “have information essential to the determination of who should be properly named as additional defendants in this action.”

A spokesman for the city’s law department declined to comment on the suit Tuesday morning.

An autopsy found Crosby died from blunt force injuries related to the crash, and his death was ruled an accident, the medical examiner’s office said.

The driver of the salt truck, a 55-year-old man, was taken to Trinity Hospital in good condition, police said.

CPD’s Major Accident Investigation Unit is investigating the crash.