Hit-and-run suspect urged to turn self in by mother, prosecutors say

A mother up late watching TV saw reports about police looking for a fatal hit-and-run driver in the Old Irving Park neighborhood and awoke her 57-year-old son to tell him to go to the authorities, prosecutors said Saturday.

Phil Pinkawa, of the 2900 block of North Troy Street, appeared in court Saturday before Cook County Judge Barbara Dawkins, who set bail at $50,000. Pinkawa must pay $5,000 in order to be released until his next court date, on Friday.

Pinkawa, 57, was charged with failure to report an accident involving the death of 22-year-old Nick Parlingayan, Chicago police said in a media notification.

Parlingayan, 22, who was at least the third bicyclist fatality in 2022, was riding a bike about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday in the 3800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when he was hit by Nissan Versa that did not stop and fled the scene, police said.

Parlingayan fell down, which caused trauma to his head and he was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 10:10 p.m. officials said.

Shortly after the wreck, Pinkawa’s mom was up late watching TV and saw a report about the crash, prosecutors told Judge Dawkins.

Knowing her son had a black Nissan Versa, which was described in the police alert, and the crash happened along the route and at the same time he was delivering food for the restaurant where he works as a cook, she woke him up at 4 a.m. to urge him to turn himself in, according to prosecutors.

Pinkawa admitted he ran into something that hit his windshield causing damage to his vehicle which was parked in the garage but according to prosecutors he slammed into Parlingayan and dragged him before fleeing the scene.

“Instead of stopping and giving aid, he drove off,” said Judge Dawkins before setting bail. He didn’t turn himself in “until his mother put two and two together.”

Investigators matched the pieces of the Versa left at the scene to his car, prosecutors said, adding that Pinkawa turned himself in a short while later after also speaking with restaurant co-workers.

Pinkawa, a lifelong Cook County resident, also works as a trucker, according to a lawyer for him.