Fatal bike hit-and-run in early May still unsolved, police say

Two weeks after a driver crashed into biker Rick Lomas in Humboldt Park and fled the scene of the fatal hit-and-run, police say they are still investigating and have no one in custody.

The driver of a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix hit Lomas, 31, about 2 a.m. May 7, according to a police report. He had been biking in the 1000 block of North California Avenue.

Lomas refused medical treatment and left the scene of the collision, the crash report said. He later suffered a brain hemorrhage and died three days later, according to a GoFundMe raising money for his hospital and memorial expenses.

“Rick was an amazing person who worked on various home projects throughout the Logan Square community. He was reliable and kind and funny. We will all miss him dearly,” wrote Abigail Clough, creator of the GoFundMe.

Police have the license plate of the Pontiac that hit Lomas and know who owns the car. Responding officers wrote in the report that Lomas had biked through a red light before the car hit him.

However, the Lomas family’s attorney, Michael Keating, told the Tribune surveillance video did not show the traffic signal’s color.

“There’s nothing based on what we’ve seen so far that substantiates this claim that he ran a red light,” Keating said.

Lomas was bleeding from the head after the collision, according to the report, but declined emergency medical services. He may have been disoriented when he refused care after suffering a severe head injury, Keating said.

The 31-year-old was a British citizen pursuing American citizenship, Keating said.

His wife, Zena Lomas, wrote on Facebook that she couldn’t explain how much she and her husband loved one another. Lomas was a “one in a billion” family man, who had “old school values” and could bring out the kid in anyone, she said.

“I don’t know if there was ever a night that we weren’t giggling like little kids,” she wrote. “Rick brought peace in my soul and made me the happiest woman in the universe. I don’t know why things happen the way they do, but I know forever in my heart how lucky I was to have him in my life.”

The number of bicyclists and pedestrians killed in Chicago has risen in recent years, said Keating, whose practice specializes in bicycle crashes.

“All these situations, tragically, are becoming more and more common on Chicago’s roadways,” he said.

Early Monday, an attacker hit a 62-year-old biker in the South Loop with a construction sign, police said. The attacker took the man’s bike and used it to further assault him, according to police.

Chicago Fire Department paramedics took the man to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was in critical condition after the 1 a.m. attack in the 2200 block of South State Street. No one is in custody, police said.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com