Joshua Anleu, 16, had “a cool factor” and a big smile that made him easy to recognize at Schurz High School, where he was a sophomore.
He had a thing for rap artist Playboi Carti and the video game Clash Royale, and talked about being a clothes designer or, more practically, a dental hygienist like his mom. He had a pink bike that he’d ride frequently to Portage Park.
Earlier this month, a motorist hit Anleu while he was riding his bike in his neighborhood. He died two days later on Oct. 6. A spokesperson for Chicago police said the motorist who hit Anleu was “cited for failure to exercise due care to (a) pedestrian in (the) roadway.”
Anleu is one of at least three people to die in cycling-related accidents around Cook County in three weeks.
On Tuesday morning, 52-year-old James Bowman of the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, died after he was struck by vehicle while riding his bike around 5:50 a.m. in west suburban Melrose Park, according to a village spokesman.
On Monday night in Lincoln Square, a 59-year-old Edgewater man was struck by a car driven by a possibly intoxicated driver around 8 p.m. in the 5100 block of North Damen Avenue. Charges are pending following an investigation, police said Tuesday. The victim’s identity wasn’t immediately released.
City data shows that Monday’s accident in Lincoln Square is the second fatal cycling crash in 2023. Last year saw five crashes that killed cyclists. However, this data is likely not comprehensive.
Bike safety advocates see the recent string of accidents as a warning sign that city officials need to prioritize cyclist and pedestrian safety, an issue that has become a focus of activism as pro-bike groups push for more robust infrastructure. They’ve netted some wins recently, including a December 2022 ordinance that makes it easier for the city to ticket vehicles parked in bike lanes with higher fees.
Christina Whitehouse, founder of the advocacy group Bike Lane Uprising, said preventing cycling deaths remains an urgent matter.
“I’d like to make sure the city is focusing their attention on this issue,” she said. “Drivers as a whole around Chicago have become completely ruthless.”
Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th, who represents Lincoln Square and Edgewater, called the death of the cyclist a devastating loss in a statement Tuesday morning. Vasquez said his office has been in contact with the city’s Department of Transportation to implement safety measures for cyclists and pedestrians.
“Everyone deserves safe streets, and our office is committed to ensuring that we do everything we can to protect bicyclists and pedestrians in our ward,” he said.
Anleu’s mother, Karen Buendia, said she’d cautioned her son many times about safety on his bike.
“I always told him please take care, please stop, because people don’t care, people don’t stop,” Buendia, 34, said.
Since her son died, Buendia said her husband has been driving her places because she is afraid to do so herself.
“I don’t want to drive just because I might run over someone else’s kid,” she said.
Schurz High School math teacher Kevin Mendoza had Anleu in his 7th period Algebra 1 class last year.
He remembered Anleu as “super smart, ambitious, oozing charisma.” Mendoza said Anleu relished the challenge of math class, often rejecting a calculator approach to problem solving.
“He much preferred to do things by hand, use his brain,” Mendoza said. “It was really interesting to see him challenge his other friends who were using the calculator.”
His circle was close-knit, Mendoza said: “They’d walk together, they’d be late to class together, they ate lunch together. (They were) quintessential high school sophomores trying to become bigger versions of themselves.”
Anleu’s friends are still coming to say hi to Mendoza, but “you can see that there is something missing in that group now,” he said.
