April 01--Ronit Bezalel has seen just about everything on Chicago bike paths, but on her Monday morning commute she found something that shocked even her: A silver Buick, almost unscathed, in the middle of the bike path.
"My first thought was, great, what else have we got in the bike path? Because it's a really awful area, and I'm used to seeing everything--but not a car," said Bezalel, 45, a documentary filmmaker, photographer and media manager at Catholic Theological Union in Hyde Park.
The mystery car, parked on a narrow bike path by the lakeshore near Navy Pier, went viral recently after Bezalel and others posted photos online. There is no visible damage to the car other than a broken wheel, and no indication of how exactly it got on to the narrow path.
"I looked at the fence and in the guardrail [and] I couldn't see any evidence of some major catastrophe," Bezalel said. "It seemed like the driver was fine, there's no impact, it's not like a crash. It's like they rolled to a stop going, 'OK, this is a bad idea.'"
City records show that the car was towed Monday at about 9 a.m. The city department of streets and sanitation declined to comment further on how the car got there or how it was towed away. Chicago police did not immediately have information.
Attempts to reach the car's owner were unsuccessful.
Bezalel said when she arrived at the scene Monday morning, there were two workers there who appeared to be from the city.
"I said to the guys, the workers, 'how are you going to get this out?'" she told RedEye. "They were like, 'we don't know. Maybe a boat and a crane.' They were only half joking."
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