Family Asks for Driver in Fatal Niles Hit-and-Run Crash to Come Forward

A family is asking for the driver responsible for a fatal hit-and-run in north suburban Niles to come forward.

Tadeusz Dec, 55, was crossing a street when he was killed last Thursday, police said.

Officers responded at 10:57 p.m. to a call of a pedestrian struck by a vehicle in the 8600 block of West Golf Road, according to a statement from Niles police. Dec was walking northbound across Golf Road just west of North Greenwood Avenue when he was struck by a vehicle traveling westbound.

A witness told police that the vehicle drove away after the crash. The family is now asking for the driver to come forward.

"The more time goes by the less chance they will find somebody," Pawel Kostadinow, Dec's son-in-law, said. "Put yourself in my shoes when you've lost a loved one what would you do?"

Dec, of the 9000 block of West Terrace Drive in Niles, was taken to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he was pronounced dead at 11:35 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The vehicle that sped away after the crash was described as a white 1999-2002 Toyota 4Runner with front end damage, police said. The The North Regional Major Crimes Task Force Major Crash Assistance Team and Niles police are investigating.