Retired Chicago TV Reporter In Coma After Bike Crash

CHICAGO, IL — A retired Chicago broadcaster is in a coma following a bicycle accident Wednesday along a lakefront path on the South Side. Elizabeth Brackett, a longtime, award-winning reporter for "Chicago Tonight" on WTTW-TV, suffered two fractured vertebrae in the crash, and she is in critical condition at Stroger Hospital, according to the TV station.

Details surrounding the accident still weren't known, the station said. Carol Marin, a friend and fellow broadcaster, told the Chicago Tribune that Brackett, 76, had been training on her bike when the crash happened. The reporter was found injured on the bike path, but it's not clear how she was hurt, Marin said.

According to WTTW, Brackett is a champion triathlete and has been competing since she was 50. Earlier this year, she won an international title in her age group, the latest of five such awards she has earned over the years.

Bracket retired in 2014 following a 20-year career as a correspondent for "Chicago Tonight," covering politics, sports, business and other issues. In that time, she won two Midwest Emmy Awards, two Peter Lisagor Awards for Business Journalism and a National Peabody Award, the station said.

Although retired, Brackett still worked as an occasional contributor for WTTW and "Chicago Tonight."

“Elizabeth has been a valued colleague and friend for many years, and an inspiration to all of us,” "Chicago Tonight" executive producer Mary Field said. “We are thinking of her family, and hoping and praying for a full recovery.”

More via "Chicago Tonight"

Elizabeth Brackett in 2012 (Screen shot from video via Elizabeth Brackett | YouTube)