Chicago-area lawyer offers $ 5,000 reward to person with information leading to the arrest and conviction of two people responsible for landing a Lincoln Park cyclist in hospital with de serious facial injuries.

During the afternoon of September 25, Josh Dicker, 25, was cycling near Lincoln Avenue and Wisconsin Street when a carpool driver in a white Honda CRV pulled into the bike lane to leave take out a passenger.

Before Dicker could stop, the passenger opened the door.

“I had no chance. He came out of nowhere, ”said the cyclist. “It was pretty bloody. Basically my face went straight into a car.

Dicker has undergone several surgeries for serious facial injuries.

“I had two fractures in my nose that needed to be repaired. The surgeon really wanted to sew up the lip as soon as possible, ”he said.

Although the driver and passenger got out of the car to check on Dicker’s condition, he says the two left the scene before police arrived.

Bryant Greening, an attorney for LegalRideShare, is demanding that rideshare companies like Lyft and Uber notify drivers and passengers of the Chicago Bike Lanes Ordinance which prohibits vehicles from idling or parking on bike lanes.

Depending on the city, violators can face a fine of $ 150.

“Any reasonable person would have understood that they had to stay there to help, to provide information,” Greening said. “Despite the fact that the city has an ordinance on the books, it is not doing enough to protect bike lanes for vulnerable people.”

Lyft told NBC 5 that it provides stickers for drivers telling passengers to watch out for bikes and scooters. The app also sends a push notification to cyclists and drivers on their phones, alerting them to bike lanes.

Uber says it has partnered with the League of American Bicyclist for bicycle safety education.

In 2019, it launched bike lane alerts for users.

Last month, the city of Chicago revealed an investment of $ 17 million to modernize and build protected bike lanes throughout the city. This project is expected to last up to two years.

In 2017, the city published a study highlighting that cyclists in Chicago were five times more likely to be killed or seriously injured in a crash.

Dicker hopes his story will raise awareness of the dangers of sharing the road with illegal vehicles in Chicago.