4-year-old girl fatally struck by van in West Ridge neighborhood

A 4-year-old girl died from her injuries after she was struck late Wednesday afternoon while crossing the street in the West Ridge neighborhood, Chicago police said.

Shortly before 5:45 p.m., a 72-year-old driver headed north in the 6200 block of North Talman Avenue struck a 4-year-old girl pedestrian crossing the street from east to west, police said.

She suffered blunt trauma to the body, and was taken in critical condition to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where she was later pronounced dead.

She was identified as Juslene Azeka of the same block where she was fatally struck, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The driver of the minivan was written citations for failure of due care to avoid a pedestrian in the roadway and failure to reduce speed, police said.

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