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Driver Crashes Into Door of Bowmanville Carwash, Killing Woman Inside

3:18 PM CST on January 30, 2017

The carwash on the 5400 block of North Damen. Image: Google Street View

On Saturday morning a motorist drove through the closed overhead door of a carwash in the Bowmanville neighborhood, killing mail carrier Passion Overstreet, 28, who was inside the facility.

Around 9:50 a.m., the 56-year-old male driver drove a Volkswagen Golf compact car through the door of the carwash, located on the 5400 block of North Damen, according to Officer Michelle Tannehille from Police News Affairs. Overstreet was pinned under the vehicle and the door.

Chicago Fire Department personnel extricated the victim and transported her to Saint Frances Hospital in Evanston, Tannehill said. Overstreet, who lived in the South Side neighborhood of Fuller Park, was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m.

The driver stayed at the scene and was ticketed for failure to yield to a pedestrian – due care, according to Tannehill. The Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled that the killing was accidental.

“The Chicago District Postal Service is shocked and sadden by the sudden loss of a dear postal family member in this tragic incident,” said to a statement from the post office. “Our hearts and prayers are with her family and loved ones as well as with her extended postal family at the Ravenswood Post Office.”

Fatality Tracker: 2017 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths
Pedestrian: 4 (one was a hit-and-run crash)
Bicyclist: 1


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