An Oak Park man, age 92, died of his injuries Thursday night after his tricycle was struck by a westbound Chevy Impala near Madison Street and Scoville Avenue around 8 p.m.
Suleyman Cetin, who lived at the 500 block of Madison Street, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where he was pronounced dead at 9:59 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Cetin was a well-known neighborhood figure, seen often riding around on his cycle on Madison Street said neighbor Eilene Heckman who lived in his building.
“He was kind of the neighborhood mascot,” she said. “He would eat at the Burger King every day. He was all over the neighborhood working at lots of little odd jobs.”
“We always thought he must be a millon years old and admired him so much because he was so active,” she added.
Cetin, who lived in Oak Park since 1989, could be seen working at Jewel and also worked part-time at neighborhood car washes, said his son Sabri Cetinkunt, a professor at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
“He didn’t believe in retirement. He was always smiling. He never complained to me, or anybody, he pretty much took care of himself. People would always tell me, ‘I saw your father today,'”
Cetin was born in Turkey and emigrated from Germany to the U.S., his son said. He became a U.S. citizen ten years ago.
“He loved this country and had a good life here,” Cetinkunt said.
The driver of the Chevy was ticket for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, said Village of Oak Park Spokesman David Powers.
