Susan McMahon, a 19-year employee with the Village of Oak Park, died around 7 p.m., Sept. 18, at Loyola Medical Center in Maywood from internal injuries suffered when a car hit her the previous Sunday.
McMahon, 62, was reportedly removing groceries from her car around 12:30 p.m. outside her home on the 300 block of Wisconsin Avenue, when a 1990 Buick Riviera, traveling southbound, lost control, struck her, and then knocked into two cars, said Oak Park Police Chief Rick Tanksley.
The impact threw McMahon onto the sidewalk where she was found.
According to her son Bob McMahon, 35, she bounced off three cars before she landed on the sidewalk. He said doctors were 90 percent sure that, after the hit broke her ribs, her internal organs were unprotected and subsequently too bruised and battered to heal.
The officer on the scene believed the man was intoxicated, McMahon alleged, but police could not yet confirm that as of early this week.
“It’s tragic. There’s really no other way to describe it,” David Powers, village communications director, said. “She was extremely outgoing, always smiling, good-natured. She liked to joke with you a lot.”
A 30-year Oak Park resident, McMahon worked at village hall for almost 20 years, mostly as secretary to the village clerk. She also spent over four years in the Community Relations Department.
Oak Park police held a 23-year-old Aurora man for 24 hours for “traffic crash to a pedestrian” before he was released. He voluntarily submitted blood and urine samples, which police are currently testing before filing any charges, Powers said.
Police are working with the Cook County State’s Attorney, intending to bring charges against the man, Tanksley said. Police are reconstructing the accident to better understand it.
“The state’s attorney doesn’t want him charged until we have all our evidence lined up,” he said. “It’s my hope that charges will be filed soon in this case.”
The man’s driver’s license has been revoked since December of 2005, according to Dave Druker, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office. The Aurora man was convicted of a DUI in late 2005, and his license expired shortly after.
Tanksley said the man claimed he was reaching over to pick something up when he struck McMahon.
The mood in the village clerk’s office was somber last Wednesday evening as employees looked over old photos of McMahon and reminisced.
“Village staff is extremely upset,” said Village Clerk Sandra Sokol. “She was a longtime employee, and everyone is in shock about the tragedy. She will be incredibly missed.”
“I will miss her greatly both as a friend and a trusted employee,” Sokol said later. “People are taking it pretty badly here, and we’re doing the best we can to cope.”
“She left a giant void in our lives,” said her brother, Curtis Uthene, Monday afternoon, audibly upset and shocked that her sister died carrying in groceries.
Bob McMahon lost his father in 1999 and said losing his second parent was much more difficult.
“When you lose the second one, there’s a feeling like when the first girl ever broke your heart, that real pain that happens in the center of your chest,” McMahon said. “Even worse than that, when it’s the last one, you are alone and that’s something you really feel right away. … Your mom is something you can’t remember not having.”
-Bill Dwyer contributed to this report