The accident occurred on Wednesday, November 4, at around 18.10 in Maltepe District Litros Yolu Street. Allegedly, Şenel Çıtak, who was walking towards his home after work, had to cross the street when the sidewalk was closed to pedestrians due to construction work on the road he was walking on. Meanwhile, a pickup truck, whose license plate was not known yet, hit Çıtak and quickly fled the scene.
Upon the notice of the people around who saw the accident, medical teams were dispatched to the scene. Meanwhile, an ambulance passing the scene took the seriously injured Şenel Çıtak to the nearest hospital. Çıtak, who was found to have severe bone fractures and internal bleeding in his body, could not be saved despite all the interventions of the doctors. As the police teams studied the security cameras at the scene and surrounding area, the driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was detained. It was learned that the suspect's procedures at the police station are continuing.
Following the autopsy at the Forensic Medicine Institute Morgue, Şenel Çıtak's body was handed over to his family. A funeral prayer was performed for Çıtak in the afternoon at Akşemsettin Mosque in Küçükçekmece İnönü District. Şenel Çıtak, who was bid farewell among the tears of his relatives, loved ones and colleagues, was buried in Yeni Ayazağa Cemetery. While the family claimed that security measures were taken at the scene after the accident, Şenel Çıtak's last moments were recorded on the security camera.
His son, Ömer Faruk Çıtak, said, "When my father did not come, I called him to see where he was. The hospital security picks up the phone. He says that my father had a traffic accident. Normally, he liked to joke around. He liked to trick me by giving me the phone when someone was with him. I thought so again. When I asked which hospital, I found out that it was real. We went to the hospital, they took us to the room and 2 doctors came and explained the situation to us. When he went to the hospital, he was unconscious. He had no movement at all. His condition was critical; he said, 'We intubated him.' "They told us that he had a hemorrhage and lost a lot of blood. He had fractures in his skull, fractures in his neck, and his brain had already accumulated edema." he said.
Çıtak said, "He is going through a 4-5 hour surgery, they say, 'We took him to intensive care after the surgery.' Then they call us up. They say he is in a vegetative state. About half an hour later, I get a call from the hospital, saying that my father's heart has stopped. About 20 minutes later, he says that they lost my father. There is loss of life, it is not easy. Losing a human life should not be that easy. The person who shoots comes quickly and shoots; he continues on his way. If he gets down there and looks, he realizes what he hit, at that time." "If he had called the 112 Emergency Call Center and received immediate intervention, maybe I wouldn't have lost my father right now. I want justice to be served. We want the person who did this to receive the heaviest punishment he deserves."
His nephew İsa Çıtak said, "While crossing the road, he hit my uncle from the front left side. He stopped 15 meters away. Then he continued on his way as if nothing had happened. He did not look at the person he hit, then he walked away. There was a construction there. He had to jump onto the road because he could not go from the pavement because the iron bars were piled up in front of the construction. Meanwhile, he was hit by a vehicle."
Claiming that security measures were taken with bollards at the scene after the accident, his colleague Halit Zinetbaş said, "There is a construction work going on. The pedestrian cannot use the sidewalk because they occupied the sidewalk. He has to cross the opposite sidewalk. While he is trying to cross the street, he is hit by a vehicle. The pickup truck is coming very fast. It comes so fast that its license plate cannot be read in the records and crashes. After the collision, it stops and the driver gets out. He watches the injured person's death agony, so to speak, and gets back into the vehicle and moves off. That's how cheap human life is." "It shouldn't happen. He printed a card at 18.00 and died while crossing the road at 18.05-18.10 and no one knew about it. A life was lost. This life has children, a spouse and siblings. I think our problem in Türkiye is that we take precautions after losing something."
