'It's been devastating': Chicago man, whose wife Hannah Hayes was killed in a hit-and-run, says she was an activist who cared for everyone
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Only On 2
The husband of a woman killed in a hit-and-run said the crime not only broke his heart, but robbed the city of a great advocate for public high school students.
The crash happened at 49th and Drexel in the Kenwood neighborhood. The victim's husband tells CBS 2's Tim McNicholas that police believe the car had just been stolen.
"This was her idea." Jesse
Jesse Sinaiko and his wife Hannah Hayes just finished this backyard garden two weeks ago. It's one more thing Jesse wanted to enjoy with his wife for years to come, but now, he can't.
"It's symbolic of what happens when people are taken from you suddenly. It's like everything just freezes. It stops," Sinaiko said.
Hannah was on her way home last Monday after visiting a friend who was ill at Christ Medical Center.
She wanted to cheer them up.
Just a couple blocks from home, at 49th and Drexel, a speeding Lexus blew through a stop sign and slammed into her car around 9:00. pm.
Police said the people in the Lexus, seen in security images, got out and ran. Hannah, a loving wife and mom to a 26-year-old named Zachary, did not survive the crash.
"Huge hearted, just a marvelous person who cared for everyone and everything. Made friends quickly. So it's been devastating."
Hannah was an activist who spent years fighting to improve the city. In the 80s, she worked on both of Mayor Harold Washington's campaigns.
Most recently, she was on the local school council for Reavis Elementary, where she and a group of volunteers built a library in an empty classroom.
"She spent her life working for young people in disadvantaged situations," Sinaiko said, adding that if she had a chance to talk to the men in that car, she would have wanted to help them.
"I think that's right. She would have said maybe we can find something else for you to do."
Now, the school is naming that library after Hannah. It's a fitting tribute to a woman who dedicated her life trying to improve the lives of others.
Police are still looking for those people who ran from that car. Sinaiko said detectives told him the Lexus the were in had been stolen earlier that night.