Neighbors' Panicked 911 Calls Released By Attorney In Fatal Crash

OAK LAWN, IL — Graphic recordings of 911 calls reveal panic and terror when neighbors called to report an Oak Lawn man being struck by a car after parking his own vehicle on the street in front of his house. Murod Kurdi, 28, died from traumatic head injuries a few days after he was struck June 5.

The driver of the striking vehicle — a 27-year-old woman — was released with a ticket, even after she allegedly told officers that she had “two drinks” prior to the crash and refused to participate in sobriety tests.

Oak Lawn police officers’ handling of the crash scene has led to allegations of racial profiling for the second time in less than a year. Activists have accused police of giving the driver a break because she was white and Kurdi was Arab American.

>>> Questions Surround OLPD's Release Of Driver After Fatal Crash

Just after 5:30 p.m., June 5, Kurdi came home from work and parked his 2022 Ford F150 pickup truck along the curb in front of his family’s home in the 5100 block of West 91st Street. The driver of a 2018 Kia Optima was heading west on 91st Street. According to the accident report, Kurdi had just exited his vehicle when he was struck by the oncoming Kia.

“As Unit 1 [the Kia] drove past the parked vehicle, the right side of Unit 1 struck the pedestrian. The pedestrian was launched in a northwesterly direction, landing partially in the parkway grass and on the street. The pedestrian [Kurdi] slid west and struck the right rear tire of a parked SUV in front of the pedestrian’s vehicle. The pedestrian came to rest at the rear of the parked SUV.”

Diagrams on the accident report show a driveway separating Kurdi’s truck from the parked SUV where he landed. The accident scene was investigated well into the evening of June 5 by Oak Lawn police and the Cook County Sheriff’s accident reconstruction unit.

Moments after the crash, panicky neighbors called Oak Lawn’s 911 center. The recordings were provided to Patch by the Kurdi family’s attorney, David Petrich.

The first call is from a woman who gives an address a few doors down from Kurdi residence

“We heard this crash in our house, and all of a sudden there’s a guy laying under a car," the female caller says. “The car that hit him went the other way.”

She explains to the 911 dispatcher that she didn’t see the crash because “we were in our house.”

“Another witness who saw it left,” she adds.

“I have multiple people calling. Is he breathing,” the 911 dispatcher asks. “Can you tell me if he’s breathing?”

“Kind of.”

“If he’s not breathing, we have to start CPR, the 911 dispatcher says. “Who hit him?”

“This lady.”

“So the female came back?”

The female caller can be heard trying to calm down an upset woman who says: "I didn't see him," and "he walked right in front of my car."

A second neighbor near the Kurdi residence also called 911.

“I need someone right away, a fellow just got hit by a car,” the male caller says. “I don’t know if I need to turn him … his mouth is full of blood.”

In the background, a dog barks and voices overlap. The same male caller gives a description of a vehicle different from the Kia, heading in the opposite direction.

“Don’t move him, don’t move him,” the dispatcher says. “Let him know that help is on the way. Do you know about how old he is?”

“He’s 27 [sic]. I need someone here quick,” the man said. "I don’t feel a pulse, I don’t feel a pulse. I need someone [expletive] fast.”

“They’re on the way. They’re coming as quickly as they can,” the dispatcher said.

“He has no pulse and he’s trying to gasp,” the male caller says.

“If he’s trying to breathe, then he would have a pulse.”

“Oh, God.”

“What’s going on there?”

“The back of his head is busted,” the second caller says.

“Is his head cracked open,” the dispatcher asks.

“It looks like his head is busted bad.”

“Can anyone get a clean dry cloth or towel to control the bleeding,” the dispatcher asks. “Do you see the officers?”

But the male caller is having a conversation with another neighbor while on the line with 911. The neighbor thinks Kurdi’s brother, Suphi, is the one lying bleeding next to the SUV. “No, it’s his brother, Murod,” the man tells the neighbor.

“Yeah, they’re here.”

“Flag them down,” the dispatcher said.

“They’re flagged down.”

A third call comes in. This time, the caller gives the address of the Kurdi residence.

“I need you here right away,” he says. “We need an ambulance.”

“Is it the vehicle vs. pedestrian,” the dispatcher asks.

“Please come right now,” the male caller pleads. “He’s bleeding real bad.”

The crash report also indicates a child was in the 27-year-old driver’s car. The Kurdi family’s attorney said video evidence provided to his firm showed her driving about a block away before stopping. The driver did return to the scene.

Robert Olson, the driver’s attorney, said the driver called him from crash scene. Olson told Patch that he advised her not to participate in field sobriety or breathalyzer tests, or volunteer for a blood draw to determine if she was impaired.

“[Officers] didn’t believe they had reasonable grounds to charge her with driving under the influence,” Olson said.

Petrich said that he and Kurdi family met with Oak Lawn police on June 16. He claimed they learned that during questioning by officers on the scene, the driver smelled of alcohol and admitted to having “two drinks.”

Petrich added that while it was within the driver’s rights to refuse sobriety testing, the police officers are aware of the process to initiate a forced blood draw.

“There is no doubt that a forced blood draw should have been the next step,” he said.

The Kurdi family has lived in the village for many years and say they have always been supportive of the Oak Lawn Police Department. In the wake of Murod’s death, they are now left with lingering questions. The family told ABC 7 Chicago that Kurdi supported his mother and brother after his father died several months ago. He worked as a sales consultant at Zeigler Ford in North Riverside.

"He was the rock to our house, our backbone. He's always a straight shooter,” Kurdi’s brother, Suphi, told ABC-7. “Now, we have to learn to continue life without him. We don't know how to do that yet.”

The Village of Oak Lawn released a written statement stating that the crash remains under investigation and police are “pursuing several avenues in that regard.”

“The Village sympathizes with the loss of life and expresses its condolences to Mr. Kurdi’s family,” the statement said.