Chicago Reporter Dies After Bike Accident

Last week, FTVLive told you that longtime “Chicago Tonight” Reporter and host Elizabeth Brackett was admitted to the Hospital following a serious bicycle accident.

Sadly, she has now died. 

The Chicago Tribune reports that the accident left Brackett, a lifetime resident of Chicago, in a coma and on a ventilator at Stroger Hospital, WTTW announced in a statement Friday. Her injuries included at least one fractured vertebra, according to the station. She was surrounded by family at the time of her death.

“Brackett, who was also a five-time world champion triathlete, was a tenacious reporter, exceptional writer, skilled and insightful host, and, above all, a valued colleague and friend to everyone who worked on Chicago Tonight,” the station said in a statement Sunday.

Little is known about Brackett’s accident Wednesday, which happened on a South Side stretch of the Lakefront Trail near 39th Street. Brackett’s family told her colleagues that she was found several feet from the bike trail, which is not far from her South Side home, said Phil Ponce, host of “Chicago Tonight.” A still-anonymous good Samaritan saw Brackett and performed CPR until paramedics arrived, according to the station. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford told WTTW that paramedics saw “no signs of trauma, no dirt, bruises, scrapes, contusions, anything that indicated she collided with something or had a fall or struck something.”

“We don’t know how she got there,” he told the station. Her family is hoping to identify the person who performed CPR on Brackett, the station reported Friday.

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