Search On For Grubhub Driver Accused Of Running Over East Lakeview Restaurant Owner's Daughter, Leaving Her Fighting For Her Life
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Grubhub driver stood accused Saturday of running over a woman in East Lakeview and then driving away.
The woman is a recent college graduate and the daughter of the owner of a restaurant on Broadway.
As CBS 2's Marissa Parra reported, it looked like business as usual on Saturday at Ms. T's Southern Fried Chicken, 3343 N. Broadway, on Saturday afternoon.
But the inside of owner Angenita Tanner's mind is a different story.
"I'm here but I'm not here," Tanner said. "I'm at Illinois Masonic with my daughter."
She can't stop replaying the moment when she watched a man run his car over her 24-year-old daughter and then drive away.
It all started around 5 p.m. Friday, when she said the man came to pick up an order with Grubhub. She asked him to wait outside because of social distancing.
"I only have one person at a time in my restaurant because it's so small, and he told me no, he was not going to step outside," Tanner said.
She said the delivery driver started a fight, throwing kicks against the door, before running outside.
They followed to capture the moment on video. CBS 2 blurred out parts of it because the man hasn't been charged, so while his face has been obscured, the tension is audible.
For 40 seconds, you can see Tanner's daughter, Bijan Choya Early, waiting for police to arrive.
But then the man suddenly took off, taking Early down with him. Another blurry video from across the street shows a moment too graphic to share.
"She was on the hood of the car, and that's when he stopped. She fell, and he ran over her," Tanner said. "He ran all four tires over her. You don't do another human being like that."
Early just graduated from college in December. On Saturday, her family said, she was fighting for her life.
"She has a breathing tube; broken arms, legs, and pelvis," Tanner said.
There is little comfort for families in a pandemic, so while she can't be with her daughter in the hospital, she tries to bury herself in her work.
"It hurts," Tanner said. "When your kid hurts, you hurt."
But she vows she won't rest until police find the man who did it.
"He must be brought to justice," Tanner said. "He must."
Tanner said her daughter just had surgery at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center at 1 p.m. At last check, she was stable.
We reached out to Grubhub for comment. They released the following statement:
"We are shocked and appalled by these reports, and our hearts go out to the person injured and her family. We have revoked this driver's access to our platform and terminated his contract with us. We are fully cooperating with the Chicago Police Department and have reached out to provide them with information about this driver."
Grubhub adds that he'd cleared all background checks, and he had no prior reports of misconduct.
The Lakeview East Chamber of Commerce also released the following statement:
"We are beyond words to hear about a GRUBHUB delivery driver that ran over the daughter of business owner Nita Tanner of Mrs. T's Fried Chicken yesterday at 6PM on Broadway. Bijan Choya is currently in ICU at IL Masonic suffering from broken legs, arms, front and back pelvis and is in surgery today. This driver intentionally ran over Bijan with all four tires and drove away. All this happened when the driver tried to break the door of the business and refused to social distance himself. Alderman Tunney and the 19th District are following up on this case. IF you know anything about this incident, please contact the 19th Police Department."
Both police and the Tanner family were desperate to find the man.
