Parents Beg For Help In Finding Driver Who Hit Adagio Williams, 18, In West Garfield Park And Drove Off
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An 18-year-old was fighting for his life Thursday after he was struck by a car in a hit-and-run in West Garfield Park almost one week earlier, and the offender remained on the loose.
As CBS 2's Marissa Parra reported, Adagio Williams was undergoing emergency surgery Thursday while his parents beg for everyone's help finding the person responsible.
"It's hard," said Adagio Williams' mother, Tracy Williams. "He's the baby of three, and it's just so hard to see my baby laying there lifeless."
Adagio Williams' parents, Tracy and Joseph Williams, leaned on each other outside Mount Sinai Hospital, where their son was fighting for his life. They had no sleep – just tears.
"We cannot sleep because we need to bring this person to justice," Tracy Williams said. "She knows she hit my son, there's no way she didn't know she hit my son."
Adagio Williams was crossing at Madison Street and Kostner Avenue this past Friday around 9 p.m.
As he made his way through the crosswalk, Tracy Williams said, "a car with a female driver blew the red light and hit him and kept going. You can't not know. She hit him head on. He hit her hood."
Witnesses rushed to Adagio Williams' side, while another car tried to flag down the offender. But the driver was too fast.
Now, weeks before his 19th birthday, Adagio Williams is in emergency surgery – and his parents are glued to his side.
"This is my home. I sit in my car and I just wait, and then I come in every hour to go and visit," Tracy Williams said.
The agony of a hit-and-run isn't just tending to injury. It's a mother's pain – wondering who is still out there while her son sleeps.
"She has to be heartless. But if she is a mother, she has to think about what if this was her kid? What if somebody hit your kid and then left your kid there to die, like you just left our kid there?" Tracy Williams said. "Turn yourself in – if anyone knows anything, please."
Adagio Williams just graduated from Noble Academy, and he was just getting ready to start his next chapter with Revolution Workshop.
Nearby businesses and organizations that have been pouring through to see if their surveillance cameras picked up anything. So far, there's been no luck.
There are outreach workers from the Institute of Nonviolence who were there that evening who saw the aftermath of the accident. They tried to track down the car, but no one was able to get license plate.
The parents are relying on hope that either someone out there has video, or the person who did turns themselves in.
If anyone has any information, they are asked to contact police or submit a tip anonymously online at CPDTIP.com.