The grieving family of a Chicago taxi driver wants answers after, they say, their father was attacked and killed in the West Loop three months ago--the fatal kick in his head caught on cameras--but there have been no arrests.
This security camera video shows the moment 64-year-old Anis Tungekar was kicked in the head and never woke up again.
Omar Tungekar, Anis' 36-year-old son, lives in New York.
"Here we are three months later still waiting for someone to acknowledge it’s a crime to kick someone to death in the city of Chicago," he said.
The video is from Sept. 2 when witnesses told the taxi driver’s family that it started with a verbal altercation between Tungekar and an Uber driver.
The Uber driver's account with the rideshare company has since been suspended and the company is cooperating with police, an Uber spokeswoman said.
"This is a horrible tragedy and our thoughts are with Mr. Tungekar's family and loved ones," the Uber spokeswoman said in a statement.
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Michael Gallagher is the Tungekar family’s attorney.
"At that time (the) Uber driver damaged the side-view mirror to his (Tungekar's) cab and then drove off," Gallagher said.
Tungekar followed the driver down Jefferson Street.
You can see he gets out of his cab and then flips the Uber driver’s side mirror and that’s when he’s kicked in the head.
"I don’t know of any legitimate justification for roundhouse kicking someone for flipping a mirror," Gallagher said.
Good Samaritans stop to help Tungekar and prevent the Uber driver from leaving even as he pulls toward a bicyclist blocking his path, the video shows.
Detectives told the family the driver was taken in for questioning but two days later he was released without charges.
Now three months later: still nothing.
“As far as I know this man who did this to my father is still out there on the streets of Chicago where his lack of self-control and his propensity for violence still pose a threat to others," Rehman Tungekar, 34, said.
Chicago police say “the case was presented to the states attorney office for prosecution and it was deferred back to CPD for a follow-up. The investigation is ongoing."
The Cook County state’s attorney’s office cited a continuing police investigation.
"I don’t know what is the holdup as far as charges," Gallagher said. "We don’t get an attack in the Loop on video as clear as this without charges."
Anis Tungekar's family says they will likely file a lawsuit against the Uber driver, but they want criminal charges filed first.
The taxi driver’s family is also asking the good Samaritans who stopped to help their father come forward and speak to Chicago police about what they saw.
