Jury awards $10.5 million to husband of Arlington Heights crash victim

A Cook County jury on Thursday awarded $10.5 million today to the husband of an Arlington Heights kindergarten teacher who was struck and killed by a dump truck in 2022.

Sylwia Jarosz, 45, was bicycling north to work on Wilke Road near the intersection of Lake-Cook Road about 7:20 a.m. Sept. 29, 2022, when the fatal crash occurred, according to a statement from family attorney Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C.

As she was waiting for the light at the intersection to turn green, a truck owned by AJC Concrete Construction attempted to make a left turn from Lake-Cook Road onto Wilke Road, the lawyers said. The driver did not stop before entering the intersection over the speed limit and collided with another vehicle, causing the truck to veer off the road and strike Jarosz on her bicycle, they added.

She was taken from the scene to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where she died later that day, authorities said.

A lawsuit was filed on behalf of Sylwia’s husband, Kryzystof Jarosz, on March 24, 2023. The defendants admitted liability and a damages-only trial began Tuesday.

“Sylwia was a beloved kindergarten teacher at Long Grove Country School and the cherished wife of her husband, Krzystof,” family attorney Lance D. Northcutt said in Thursday’s statement. “Krzystof and Sylwia were college sweethearts in Poland and moved to the U.S. together in 2005. Krzystof has suffered an unimaginable loss, and every aspect of his life has changed since losing his best friend.”