STORY YOUMISSED
Enrique Nieto just wanted to get home to Gage Park after a long day of construction work.
The night air was cold Tuesday when his tire went flat on a busy stretch of South Pulaski Road.
He did what any resourceful father would do and called his nephew for a hand.
They pulled over in the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road around 11:12 p.m. to fix the vehicle.
The street lights cast long shadows over the industrial corridor of the West Lawn neighborhood as they worked.
Enrique crouched low by the tire, focused on the task, while his nephew Cesar stood nearby.
That was the moment a routine roadside repair turned into a nightmare.
An orange Honda SUV traveling northbound barreled toward them without slowing down.
Cesar saw the headlights and jumped for his life just as the vehicle slammed into his uncle.
The impact was violent and immediate.
The driver of the orange SUV did not tap the brakes or stop to help.
Instead, the vehicle kept moving, dragging the 53-year-old father several feet down the asphalt.
Cesar rushed to his uncle’s side before the dust had even settled on the road.
He found Enrique trapped and broken under the weight of the tragedy.
“I was just trying to keep him breathing, talking to him,” Cesar later told reporters with a voice heavy with grief.
He held his uncle on that cold pavement, desperate for the sound of sirens to get louder.
First responders eventually arrived and rushed Enrique to Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn.
Medical staff fought to save the Gage Park man, but the damage was too severe.
Enrique Nieto was pronounced dead, leaving a massive hole in the lives of his four children.
He was a man who spent his days building things in the construction industry to provide for his family.
Now, that family is left wondering how a driver could hit a human being and simply vanish into the night.
Surveillance cameras in the area captured the orange Honda SUV as it fled the scene.
Chicago police are currently scrubbing that footage to find a license plate number or a clear look at the driver.
The 6800 block of South Pulaski is a wide, fast-moving road that can be incredibly dangerous for pedestrians.
Here is the reality of the situation on our streets today.
Hit-and-run incidents are becoming a plague that turns ordinary Chicagoans into statistics.
The scene on Pulaski Road told a story of total disregard for human life.
No one is in custody yet, and the orange SUV remains missing.
The West Lawn community is now on edge as a killer remains behind the wheel.
Residents should remember that if you have a flat tire at night, try to reach a well-lit parking lot or gas station if possible.
If you must stop on a main road like Pulaski, keep your hazard lights on and wear reflective clothing.
Never turn your back to oncoming traffic while working on a vehicle.
The Nieto family deserves justice for a man who was just trying to do the right thing.
Police are asking anyone with information about an orange Honda SUV with front-end damage to call investigators immediately.
A father is gone, and a neighborhood is mourning because someone decided to keep driving.
We will continue to track this investigation as police search for the person responsible.
