Woman left with severe burns after hit-and-run driver hits her food truck on Chicago’s Southwest Side

By Andrew Ramos

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A food truck vendor on the city’s Southwest Side has been in the hospital since a horrible accident that happened while she was serving customers.

A driver crashed into her truck, causing hot cooking oil to burn her skin.

As of Wednesday, it had been a week since Alicia Robles arrived at Stroger Hospital of Cook County with third-degree burns on her face and much of her body.

“I feel pain all the time,” Robles said in Spanish.

The food truck vendor was the victim of a horrific hit-and-run and is now preparing for major surgery.

Robles said she does not remember much from the incident that happened last Wednesday night around 8:20 p.m.

One minute, she was cooking inside her food truck parked near 47th and Whipple streets in Brighton Park. The next, she felt a force that rocked her truck—sending equipment as well as scorching hot cooking oil in the air.

“The oil spilled all over me,” Robles said.

She said the hot oil spilled all over her. She said didn’t initially feel the pain because she was still absorbing the situation—and then seconds later, her skin, she said, was on fire.

“It fell completely on her face… her chest, her arms—both arms—and on her back,” said Robles’ daughter, Yulisa Hurtado.

Hurtado said she was shocked when she saw her mother’s injuries in person.

Robles suffered third-degree burns to nearly 90% of her face.

According to witnesses, the horrific incident was the result of a drunken driver who crashed into the food truck. A customer who saw the collision shot video of the man moments after the crash.

CBS News Chicago is told the man sat motionless behind the wheel. Witnesses said the smell of alcohol emanated from the sport-utility vehicle the man was driving.

The man would later flee the scene.

As she begins her recovery, which will include major skin grafting surgery on Thursday, Robles said her hope now is that anyone out there who recognizes the man could do the right thing and come forward.

The man needs to know the damage that he did, Robles said.

Robles’ family has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for medical costs that had already raised $3,0000 as of late Wednesday.

The devastating blow to Robles also happened as she is already undergoing treatment for kidney cancer.

“Whoever knows about his whereabouts, report him to the police,” Hurtado said.

It was unclear late Wednesday if Chicago Police were pursuing the unidentified driver, whose plates were clearly visible in the video. Police would only confirm that no one was in custody, and detectives are still investigating.

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