A hit-and-run van driver fatally struck Connie Mangrum, 52, Thursday morning as she walked in Englewood. Witnesses said the crash appeared to be intentional.
According to police, at about 11:15 a.m. Mangrum was walking with Javonte Kirkland, 19, on the 5600 block of South Racine when the driver of a silver van, possibly a Dodge Caravan, struck them. Witnesses said the motorist drove into oncoming traffic, and then went up on the sidewalk in front of a grocery store, where they hit the pedestrians.
The driver then went back into oncoming traffic, steering around a parked truck, before fleeing the scene. Witnesses told the police it appeared the motorist struck Mangrum and Kirkland on purpose. ABC Chicago footage shows a bicycle lying on the sidewalk at the crash scene.
Police said Mangrum and Kirkland were transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where the woman was pronounced dead. The man was badly injured, but is expected to survive."
[Mangrum] touched a lot of people's lives," her friend Richard Mosley told ABC. "She was friends with a lot of people. She always had advice for you. She definitely always had a smile." A shrine has been set up near the crash site with flowers and candles.
No one was in custody as of this morning, according to Police News Affairs.
Fatality Tracker: 2018 Chicago pedestrian and bicyclist deaths
Pedestrian: 34
Bicyclist: 6
Note: Streetsblog Chicago’s traffic death numbers represent fatal crashes on Chicago streets. The counts are based on Chicago Police Department data for January-September 2018 released by the Chicago Department of Transportation, plus media reports for October.
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