*** UPDATE *** From Sen Munoz…
Statement from Illinois State Sen. Antonio Munoz regarding the condition of his brother Martin, who was hit by a vehicle Tuesday morning.
“I want to thank everyone for calling and texting and sending along their thoughts and prayers,” said Munoz.
His brother Martin was struck by a vehicle and injured Tuesday morning as he walked to a local polling place. Martin Munoz, 40, suffered a broken leg and head lacerations. His injuries required surgery Tuesday to put screws and a rod in his leg.
“He’s out of surgery and doing very well,” Munoz said, again thanking well wishers.
* This is just horrible…
The brother of a state senator was seriously injured this morning when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver who sped through an intersection outside a South Side polling station, officials and witnesses said.
Martin Munoz, 40, the brother of State Sen. Antonio Munoz, (D-Chicago), was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was undergoing surgery.
John Patterson, acting as spokesman for the senator, said Martin Munoz suffered head lacerations and serious leg injuries but was conscious after the accident. He had been on his way to vote, he added. […]
The accident happened just before 6 a.m. outside Balzekas Motor Sales, 4030 S. Archer Ave., where a polling location was being set up, said Robert Balzekas, an employee of the Brighton Park neighborhood dealership. It had not yet opened to voters.
Balzekas said Munoz was crossing Archer when a 1994 or 1995 Nissan barreled down the diagonal street heading southeast. He said the car was traveling between 30 and 40 mph when it struck Munoz.
My thoughts are with Sen. Munoz and his family.
…Adding… Some have asked me to post this…
Arthur “Ron” Swanson, 84, a former Republican state senator and lobbyist whose insider deals played a key role in the conviction of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, died of kidney failure Saturday, Oct. 30, in his Homer Glen home, said his son, Ronald Jr.
Mr. Swanson, who served as state senator from 1963 to 1971, was sentenced in July 2006 to eight months of home confinement for lying to a grand jury when he claimed to have performed work as part of a $180,000 lobbying assignment at McCormick Place arranged by Ryan.
Although the prosecution recommended that Mr. Swanson be sentenced to prison, the judge cited his elderly age and health problems, saying prison would have been “cruel and unusual punishment.” He was 80 at the time.