Bicyclist Dies After Broken Window Cuts His Leg; Family Sues

While most bicycle-related deaths are the result of run-ins with cars, an Oak Lawn bicyclist died last May after a run-in with an allegedly faulty window. The family of Michael J. Racky, a bicyclist who died last year after he cut his leg on a broken window, is now suing Karnezis Properties, the owner of the building.

The wrongful death suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on Thursday, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The suit claims that the window pane at the former Miss Fantasia Boutique on W. 95th St. should’ve been replaced long ago.

On May 24 of last year, Racky was riding his bike near the vacant building. While passing in between a stop sign and the storefront, he placed his hand against the building’s front window, according to the suit. The window collapsed and Racky fell through it, slicing his right thigh to the bone, according to the lawsuit.

Racky was pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center. The lawsuit states that the window had not been replaced since the building opened in 1959. In addition, the window had been shot with a BB gun and was taped up with clear packing tape, according to the suit.

A wrongful death suit is often brought when a person is killed due to the negligent misconduct of another person or entity. The family must show that the defendant owed a duty of care to the decedent, and that by breaching that duty of care directly caused the decedent’s death.

Racky’s family is arguing that Karnezis Properties was negligent in failing to replace a dangerous, faulty window, and that negligence directly caused the bicyclist’s death. The company will likely argue comparative negligence, claiming that Racky was negligent in leaning on the glass window.

“It was a time bomb waiting to explode,” Thomas Paris, attorney to Michael J. Racky’s family, recently said. “Anybody could have touched that window and the same thing would have happened.”

Related Resources:


Find a Chicago Personal Injury Attorney (FindLaw)
Father of Four Dies After Bike Mishap in Oak Lawn (The Reporter)
Wrongful Death Overview (FindLaw)
Proving Fault: What is Negligence? (FindLaw)




The Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog

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