Update 6/6/26, 9:15 AM: CDOT Planner David Powe shared the name of the dooring victim, CDOT Complete Streets Planner + Project Manager Riley O’Neil, 35. We’ve edited this article accordingly. During this difficult time, our thoughts are with O’Neil’s loved ones, the CDOT Complete Streets team, and other advocates who knew him.
CDOT lost the best of our team yesterday. We’re heartbroken.In memory of Riley O’Neil, please refer to these bike racks as “Riley Racks”. He led Chicago’s bike parking program for several years. Our hearts are broken, but we want to make sure his legacy lives on 💙🚲Please spread the word
— David Powe (@davidpowe.bsky.social) 2026-06-06T13:11:10.968Z
Powe posted the following statement, “Please help us honor a Chicago bike advocate by calling these ‘Riley Racks,’” on Reddit this morning.
“Yesterday, CDOT lost one of the best people I’ve ever known.
Riley O’Neil led Chicago’s bike parking program for several years and completely transformed it. More recently, he was helping lead both CDOT’s school zone safety work and bus priority projects. He cared deeply about making biking, rolling, walking, and riding better for everyone.
But what I’ll remember most is his passion. Riley could get anyone excited about making Chicago better. He never met a person he couldn’t immediately connect with. His enthusiasm and love for bikes, transit, infrastructure, and public service was contagious.
In his memory, CDOT is going to start referring to these bike racks as “Riley Racks.”
We’d appreciate everyone’s help carrying his legacy forward. If you see one of these racks around Chicago, call it a Riley Rack.
Our hearts are broken, but we want to make sure Riley’s legacy lives on.”
Photo via the Reddit post.
Tragically, this afternoon a car driver doored CDOT Complete Streets Planner + Project Manager Riley O’Neil, 35 as he rode his bike in Bridgeport, causing him to strike the door and be thrown in front of a large semi-truck, whose driver fatally struck him.
According to the initial police report, on Friday, June 5 around 4:40 p.m., O’Neil was struck in traffic in the 3200 block of South Halsted Street. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The drivers stayed on the scene.
The Chicago Tribune reported that a Chicago Police Department source and a bystander said O’Neil was pedaling north before the collision. The driver of a white sedan opened their door into the non-protected, paint-only bike lane. The victim tried to steer out of the way but hit the door and fell into the street, where the truck ran over him.
Riding an e- scooter in the Halsted Street protected bike lanes on Halsted Street between Harrison Street and Roosevelt Road, next to the University of Illinois Chicago, looking south. Photo: John Greenfield
O’Neill’s tragic death might have been prevented if the bike lanes on this segment of Halsted were located curbside, with the parking lane to the left of the bikeway, with concrete protection.
Posts by the Chicago, Bike Grid Now! advocacy group this evening.
A couple miles southwest on Archer Avenue in Brighton Park, politically motivated protesters, including a 12th Ward alder candidate, have been demonstrating every week for the last six months, demanding that the City remove concrete-protected bike lanes.
Post by Streetsblog Chicago contributor Steven Lucy this evening.
Lucy added, “Apparently the cyclist who was killed worked for the Chicago Department of Transportation, the department responsible for the extremely dangerous bike lane implementation.” I’ve heard from another source that the victim has a CDOT connection.
Streetsblog has asked the department if they have more information about the case. This post will be updated as more facts come to light.
Update 6/6/26, 1:30 PM: Bike Lane Uprising posted that they know the identity of the victim. This information will not be made public by the Cook County medical examiner’s office before their family is notified.
Fatality Tracker: 2026 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths on surface streets
Pedestrian: 12
Bicycle or e-scooter: 5
2026 Chicago pedestrian fatalities
• On Wednesday, January 7, around 8:44 a.m., a 42-year-old woman driving an SUV fatally struck a man, 64, crossing at 9498 S. Lafayette Ave. in Roseland.
• On Monday, February 16, around 4:12 p.m., a 37-year-old female truck driver struck and killed a woman, 63, in the 7200 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue in Norwood Park.
• On Tuesday, March 3, around 6:15 PM, an SUV driver, 70, fatally struck a female pedestrian in the 4000 block of West Foster Avenue in the North Park neighborhood.
• On Wednesday, March 11, sometime before 10 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck a woman, 32, in the 2100 block of East 83rd Street in South Chicago.
• On Friday, March 13, at around 12:06 p.m., the left-turning driver of a large vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk at 3960 W. 26th St. in Little Village.
• On Sunday, April 12, around 9 p.m., a 17-year-old girl driving an SUV fatally struck a Fontella Wyatt, 43, crossing Ogden Avenue at Ashland Avenue on the Near West Side.
• On Sunday, April 19, at about 9:30 p.m., a hit-and-run pickup truck driver struck and killed Minerva Martinez, 65, in a crosswalk at Belmont and Central avenues in Belmont Cragin.
• On Monday, April 20, around 6 p.m., a semi-truck driver fatally struck Autumn Perez, 29, at 6341 S. Western Ave. in Chicago Lawn.
• On Saturday, May 2, around 2:40 a.m., after an argument, a driver fatally struck a man, 65, standing on the sidewalk on the 5000 block of S. Western Ave. in Gage Park, and then fled the scene.
• On Tuesday, May 12, Enrique Nieto was changing a flat car tire in the street on the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road when an SUV driver fatally struck him and fled the scene.
• On Thursday, May 14, a hit-and-run sedan driver fatally struck a man, 36, near 87th Street and Ashland Avenue in Auburn Gresham.
• On Saturday, May 23, around 5:15 p.m., a driver, 35, fatally struck Illeana Crisanto, 62, near Belmont and Kilbourn avenues, on the border of Irving Park and Hermosa.
2026 Chicago bicycle and e-scooter fatalities
• On Thursday, January 24, around 8:20 p.m., the 33-year-old male driver of a Toyota fatally struck Roman Havelka, 63, on a bicycle in the 8600 block of West Irving Park Road.
• On Saturday, March 21, around 8:30 p.m., a hit-and-run driver fatally struck Violet Harris, 15, on an e-scooter in the 2800 block of East 77th Street in South Shore.
• On Sunday, April 5, around 1:20 a.m., a speeding, hit-and-run SUV driver fatally struck Damian Gomez, 18, on a bicycle at 63rd Street and Kedzie Avenue in Chicago Lawn.
• On Friday, April 24, around 4:15 p.m., a Jeep driver struck and killed e-scooter rider Astrid Carrillo Noguera, 17, near 3340 S. King Dr. in the Douglas community.
• On Friday, June 5, around 4:40 p.m., a car driver opened their door on CDOT Planner Riley O’Neil, 35, causing him to clip the door and be thrown in front of a truck and fatally struck.
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