Police: Pedestrian Fatally Struck By SUV, Then Hit By CPD Vehicle
(STMW) -- Police are asking for the public's help in locating the driver of an SUV that fatally struck a pedestrian who was then run over again by an unmarked squad car on a dimly-lit stretch of a South Side road early Wednesday.
Police initially said the man had been struck and killed by an unmarked police vehicle about 1:15 a.m. in the 2800 block of East 79th Street, but announced late Friday that they were searching for the driver of a dark-colored SUV seen speeding away from the scene about 1:10 a.m.
Kevin D. Garrett, 60, of the 1000 block of West Lawrence Avenue, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. An autopsy on Thursday found he died of multiple injuries, and his death was ruled an accident.
A police source said the man was walking in the street and wearing all black.
Police said the SUV that initially struck the man was last seen heading eastbound on 79th Street at Marquette Boulevard, and that the vehicle may have damage to its front end and undercarriage. Anyone with information should call the Major Accidents Investigations Unit at (312) 745-4521.
Robert Parker, 73, a member of a church on the 2800 block of East 79th, told the Chicago Sun-Times he noticed the lights weren't working Tuesday night, just hours before the fatal accident.
Parker, who is retired, said his wife called 311 last week to report the lights were not working for about a three-block stretch of 79th.
"They told her they'd make sure to make a report and file it," he said.
City records show an open complaint was filed last Thursday, Jan. 29.
A CTA bus driver who stopped to pick up passengers on Wednesday morning near where the accident occurred said the street had been dark for about two weeks. "We have to put on their high-beams coming through here," she said.
Jacques Eugene, who owns an auto shop next to the site of the accident, said detectives had visited Wednesday morning to gather security camera footage, hoping to see exactly how the event unfolded.
Eugene said detectives told him the man who was killed was apparently hauling several shopping carts down the street when he was struck.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2015. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
