‘This has been really painful’: Suburban family left with mounting medical bills after-hit-and-run crash

BERWYN, Ill. — Police in west suburban Berwyn are searching for the driver who seriously injured a man in a hit-and-run crash in early September.

Elias Martinez’s wife, Maria, said the car that struck him in the 2300 block of Harlem Avenue on Sept. 4, dragged him for 50 feet, leaving him with life-threatening injuries.

Following the crash, Elias, who spent 22 days in a Loyola University Medical Center hospital room, was left with two broken legs, a broken arm, shattered cheekbones, and underwent surgery to repair his shattered left leg and more.

Maria said her husband suffered three fractures on the front of his left leg and a fracture on the back. Doctors also performed surgery on his broken left arm, leaving screws in his elbow.

“This has been really painful. We’ve never seen my dad like this,” Elias’s son Jesus Martinez said.

The entire family was struck by the car during the incident. They were walking along the sidewalk, only blocks from their home, and Maria said they didn’t realize what was happening until they were hit.

Among those involved in the crash was the couple’s 6-year-old daughter Carolina.

Other than Elias, the rest of the family suffered only minor injuries, but the hospital bills already arriving for the hard-working family.

Partial insurance from his job as a truck driver does not amount to much the family said.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been established to help the family deal with the medical bills.

The person responsible for the crash is said to have fled from a nearby traffic stop prior to the incident.

Police said the driver involved in the crash fled the scene on foot, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

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