Police: Pedestrian Killed By Hit-And-Run Driver In McKinley Park
CHICAGO (CBS) --A Chicago man is dead tonight after a traffic altercation escalates into violence. Investigators say the car crash in McKinley Park early Saturday morning was intentional.
The victim, Antonio Mendez, was recently married and looking forward to starting a family when an argument, ended his life.
Katherine Marquez says she married her husband, Antonio Mendez, three months ago. Mendez was on his way home Saturday morning after being out with friends.
Police say the 24-year-old got into an argument with a person in a white SUV, on the 1800 block of W. 33rd Place. Police say Mendez and his friends left their Chevy Cavalier to approach the SUV. That's when police say the SUV's driver hit Mendez with the vehicle, killing him.
"I don't know how people can run somebody over and just leave them dying. I just don't know," said Marquez.
Right after hitting Mendez, the driver of the SUV, fled.
Mendez's mother, sobbed uncontrollably at the scene. Her fiancé Antonio Rojas Jr. had a message for the driver that took Mendez's life.
"Turn yourself in. Don't let this family suffer like this because it's only the mothers who really feel it here and I don't think you'd like it if you lost a child this way," said Rojas.
Police are still looking for the driver of the white SUV that hit Mendez. His wife says he did housekeeping at McCormick Place. He would have turned 25 next month.
