- from the Sun-Times
Irma Sabanovic, a young Chicago model, has died. Early the morning of May 13, her car plunged into the river where Blackhawk ends near Elston.
This happened before. In 1992 Rick Roman, a young actor, died the same way in the same place at the same time of night. I happened to write about his death. I wrote, “The next day Roman’s father, girlfriend Vickie Tarbis, and fellow actor Adam McKay drove to the desolate spot near Elston where Blackhawk suddenly stops at the water’s edge. For about half an hour their videocamera played across the landscape, now focusing on the 12-foot drop to the river, now on the street’s pitted surface, now on the blue police barricades that had been set out too late to be useful. Then they shot through the windshield of McKay’s moving car to capture the illusion—which we can attest to after visiting the scene and which apparently betrayed Roman that rainy night—that Blackhawk, which resumes on the far side of the river, runs on unbroken.”
The Sun-Times reported Sunday, “Clem Jaskot, a friend of Irma Sabanovic’s family, questioned why there was only a short curb at the end of Blackhawk and not a more substantial barrier to prevent vehicles from plunging into the river.”