Man Killed in Little Village Was 3rd Vehicular Homicide Victim of 2014

The 4000 block of West 26th Street.

A Brighton Park man who was beaten and then run over by a motorist early Sunday morning was the third victim of a vehicular homicide this year.

On Monday, April 28, Darrell Cooper, 41, intentionally struck and killed Artez McBride, 20, in South Austin following a dispute, police said. That same week, on Saturday, May 3, another driver used his vehicle as a murder weapon in McKinley Park. Antonio Mendez, 24, was fatally struck following an argument on the 1800 block of West 33rd Place, by an SUV driver who fled the scene.

Last Sunday at about 5:35 a.m., Victor Mendez, 23, was involved in an altercation on the 4000 block of West 26th Street in Little Village, according to Officer Bari Lemmon from Police News Affairs. Following an exchange of gang slogans, assailants beat Mendez, who lived nearby on the 3100 block of West 41st Street, police said.

One of the attackers then got into a car and made a U-turn, running over Mendez, according to Lemmon.The driver fled the scene.

Mendez was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. An autopsy conducted on Monday found that he died of multiple injuries following an assault, and the death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

No one is in custody, Lemmon said. Area Central is investigating the case.

Fatality Tracker: 2014 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths

Pedestrian: 19 (6 were hit-and-run crashes)
Bicyclist: 4 (1 was a hit-and-run crash)