A reward was offered Friday for information on a June hit-and-run crash that killed a 23-year-old man on Chicago’s Northwest Side.
At around 1:30 a.m. on June 18, Eric Judge was walking in the 2000 block of West Division Street in the Wicker Park neighborhood when he was struck by a car, according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Judge, of the 2100 block of North Kedzie Boulevard in Logan Square, was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Authorities at the time said the driver of the car, a late-model white Toyota Camry traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed, did not stop after the crash and fled the scene.
The vehicle sustained significant damage to the hood, front bumper, front quarter panel, and front passenger-side windshield, Cook County Crime Stoppers said Friday.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 in cash as a reward for tips that help solve the crime, the organization said Friday. Information can be shared anonymously by calling into the tip hotline at (800) 535-7867.
“We are pleading to the community for their help!” Crime Stoppers Chairman George McDade said in a statement. “This is a tragic loss for Eric’s family and friends, and we are hoping someone in the community can help us find who is responsible for taking the life of this young man. Something you may have seen or heard could be vital in helping us find out who took Eric’s life.”
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Dozens of Judge’s family members and friends planned to distribute flyers in the area where he was struck on Saturday morning, asking for assistance in uncovering new information about his death.
Originally from New York, Judge moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University, according to his family. He overcame lifelong learning disabilities to obtain a degree in environmental engineering, Judge’s family said, and died one week before his 24th birthday.
“My son, at an early age, learned to be his true self, demonstrating a strong foundation of ethics and family values that he embodied throughout his brief life,” Judge’s mother Mary Ann said in a statement, adding that her son, the youngest of three siblings, was a loving person who planned to “make a difference in the world” and was a strong supporter of organ donation.
“It devastates us to know the accident that took Eric’s life was so horrific that it prevented us from donating his major organs in accordance with his wishes,” she continued. “We ask the Chicago community to help us in finding those people who can help us solve this crime to prevent this immense tragedy from happening to other families.”
No one is in custody in connection with the incident and the Chicago Police Major Accidents Investigation Unit continues to investigate.
