The 18-year-old woman killed in a gruesome attack Friday night has been identified as the daughter of a Chicago police officer, according to sources close to her family.
Tatyanna Lewis was killed when a woman repeatedly rammed her into a tree with a car on the city’s Far South Side.
The incident occurred around 11:10 p.m. in the 11400 block of S. May Street in the city's Morgan Park neighborhood, according to police.
Officials said Lewis and a 24-year-old woman were in a verbal argument when the woman entered an SUV and chased Lewis down the sidewalk.
She then crashed into the teen, repeatedly striking her against a tree before fleeing, authorities said.
Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
She died from multiple blunt-force injuries, the medical examiner found, and her death was ruled a homicide.
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Brittany Patrick lives in the house next to where the violent attack took place and said she heard arguing before witnessing the horrific incident.
“I looked outside and I just saw the accident - you know, the impact,” Patrick said.
Bystanders said the SUV jumped the curb at a high rate of speed, tearing through the front lawn before the crash. [[422167163, C]]
“As soon as I looked out my window I saw a girl being rammed into the tree, and ran over and backed over and over again,” Patrick said. “She hit my car, backing over the body and then backed back over the body and got away.”
The following day, tire marks were clearly visible on the sidewalk, as well as damage to the tree and a piece of the SUV still laying beside it.
"To run somebody over just cold-blooded, it's unthinkable,” said neighbor Paul Thomas.
Just hours before her death, Lewis had posted on Facebook about a possible impending confrontation, with neighbors saying the argument was over a man.
Community activist and anti-violence advocate Andrew Holmes said a child was in the backseat of the car at the time, calling the incident “very disturbing.”
“I mean, an altercation between two females, two women and one was a mother – and it went wrong,” Holmes said.
The 24-year-old woman fled the scene but was later apprehended by police. Investigators recovered the SUV about a mile and a half away, near W. 115th and S. LaSalle Streets.
The driver remains in custody and charges are pending, according to police, who continue to investigate.
