CHICAGO (WLS) -- A 23-year-old Iowa man has been cited Saturday in connection with an accident that struck and killed a mother and her two children while crossing the street in the Back of the Yards neighborhood Friday evening.
Described as a hard-working mom just trying to reward her daughter, 30-year-old Elizabeth Peralta was walking home with her 9-year-old Eli and her 4-year-old son Dylan Friday when they were hit by a semi-truck while crossing the street at the corner at 43rd Street and Ashland. All three were killed.
"She was happy. She had gone and gotten her daughter a phone. Eli had gotten good grades, plus it was her birthday," said Alejandra Valencia. "She was my sister. To my kids, those kids were their cousins."
Valencia met Peralta not long after Peralta arrived in the United States from Mexico in 2005. Peralta needed someone to help care for her then newborn daughter. Valencia's mother was introduced to her and pretty soon mother and daughter came to live with them.
