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4-Year-Old Girl Fatally Struck By Teen's Vehicle

UPDATED 05/10/11 6:10 a.m.

TINLEY PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A 4-year-old girl is dead, after being struck by a teenage driver as she ran after a ball in Tinley Park.

As WBBM Newsradio 780's Michele Fiore reports, a basketball sat on the front lawn of the home where Annabella Loerop lived, in the 6500 block of 175th Street in Tinley Park.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Michele Fiore reports

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Annabella was chasing the ball into the street before the car hit her, next-door neighbor Brenda Bettenhausen said.

Annabella was taken to Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, where she was pronounced dead at 5:03 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. An autopsy is scheduled for later Tuesday.

Police said the offending car was driven by a 16-year-old boy.

Tinley Park police Cmdr. Pat McCain said Monday night that no charges would be filed until Tuesday at the earliest.

"It's under investigation. ... If there are charges, [they] will be in the future after we look at it," McCain said.

The car was eastbound on 175th Street when Annabella was struck. Two postal workers driving west on 175th Street were on the scene seconds after the accident.

"It looked bad, very bad," said one of the workers, Dee Diamond of Matteson.

"I thought of my daughter when I saw the girl (lying) in the street," said Regina Mayerhofer, of Griffith, Ind., who called 911. "The girl has blue eyes and blond hair, just like my daughter."

Moments later, Diamond and Mayerhofer clasped their hands over their mouths and wept when Bettenhausen told them Annabella had died.

"Oh, no. Oh, Lord. Oh, poor baby. Poor baby. She was so little, Lord have mercy to be with that family," Diamond said.

The SouthtownStar contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.

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