Driver Lied About Witnessing Hit-And-Run, Actually Hit Niles Man: Police
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A crash that left a 72-year-old man dead in Niles Thursday was never a hit-and-run as was originally thought, police say.
A person involved in the crash told police he had rear-ended a vehicle who hit the victim and fled, but police say there was no other vehicle involved. Police say the person who was interviewed was actually the person who hit 72-year-old Michael Potwora.
Potwora was crossing Greenwood Avenue at Betty Terrace when he was hit by a 2016 gray Jeep Patriot shortly before 6:30 p.m.
He was transported to Lutheran General Hospital, where he died at 7:09 p.m.
Before police issued a statement regarding the driver they say hit Michael, his wife, Mary Potwora said she wanted to ask the person interviewed by police what Michael's last moments were like.
The two had been together 18 years but were married just four months ago.
Now she's thinking about some of her last moments with Michael like in the cemetery on Christmas Day when he spoke to his late parents.
"He said, 'I'm not ready to come up there yet, Mom. I've got a wonderful wife to take care of me,'" Mary said.
But now Mary believes Michael was ready, and that a card that was knocked from his hands when he was struck confirms that feeling. The card reads "God invites you to dream of the day you feel His hand on your shoulder and His eyes on your face: 'Well done,' He will say, 'good and faithful servant.'"
"It's kind of a message to me," Mary said. "Michael picked a card that you're going to have the hand of God on your shoulder. Within a few minutes of leaving Jane's Hallmark."
Mary said she did not marry Michael to have to bury Michael.
Niles investigators say they are confident that everyone involved in the crash, including the vehicle that hit Potwora has been identified and interviewed.
The investigation is ongoing and no charges have yet been brought against anyone involved.