Mount Prospect sued over bicycle fatality in June 2016

A Mount Prospect man this week added the village and its engineering consultant to a lawsuit he filed earlier this year seeking more than $50,000 in damages against the Elk Grove Village woman who drove the vehicle that struck and killed his wife in a pedestrian crosswalk in June 2016.

The complaint brought by Eric Jakubowski, as administrator of Joni Beaudry's estate, claims that Hanna Burzynska, the village and Ciorba Group all are liable for the death of Joni Beaudry, who was crossing Central Road at the Weller crosswalk, the village said in a news release Friday.

The crosswalk was significantly upgraded with roadway and signal improvements to enhance safety prior to the collision. Ciorba was the design engineer. Jakubowski has criticized the design, while the village has defended its work on the project.

"Central Road is owned and controlled by the Illinois Department of Transportation," village Manager Michael Cassady said in the news release. "The village and our design engineers were required to work within very precise rules established by federal and state regulations. We had little discretion in the ultimate design, location or operation of the beacons or crossing."