On Tuesday, April 17, 2018, a Southwest jet made an emergency landing at Philadelphia International Airport after a metal fan blade broke off an engine that caused a passenger to die. The accident ended a string of 8 years without a major U.S. airliner having a fatal accident.

The fatality resulted when the fan blade flew off from the engine, causing engine failure. Engine debris hit the plane from the outside, breaking a passenger’s window. The woman seated near the window was pulled partially out of the plane before she was pulled back in by other passengers. Two medical professionals on board attempted to save her, but the woman did not survive.

The plane, a Boeing 737 bound from New York to Dallas, Texas with 149 people on board, turned toward Philadelphia and made an emergency landing after the engine failed. Several other victims suffered from minor injuries.

Hit-and-run accidents are more common in Chicago than in many other U.S. cities. When a driver intentionally leaves the scene of a crash without providing contact information, this counts as a hit-and-run accident. This situation happens more often on our streets than most of us would like to believe.

The statistics don’t lie. Between 2005 and 2014, 41% of fatal pedestrian crashes and 22% of fatal bike accidents in Chicago involved hit-and-run drivers. In 2015 alone, there were 53 fatal bicycle and pedestrian accidents in Chicago. A whopping 28% of those fatalities involved a hit-and-run driver. New York City, another major city where you’d expect these numbers to be high, saw more pedestrian/bike fatalities in 2015—133 total—yet only 18% of those crashes involved a hit-and-run.

At Krzak Rundio Law Group, LLC, our personal injury lawyers are committed to helping our clients find the answers they seek regarding traumatic accidents they or their loved ones were a part of. We welcome you to our website and hope that it helps those in need of legal services in Chicago, IL find the assistance they need.

When an individual, corporation, or group engages in a negligent, reckless, or careless action or inaction– whether it’s a driver who gets behind the wheel and causes a crash while drunk, a negligent pilot who lands an airplane incorrectly, or a hospital that fails to treat a suffering patient in time– individuals and families are often able to file a civil lawsuit against that person or institution that acted wrongfully. Doing so can allow victims to obtain financial compensation as well as answers to why they were injured and what happened. Answers can bring closure to a horrific event.