Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

5-Year-Old Girl Killed in Hit-and-Run While Running Toward Ice Cream Truck

By Linze Rice | May 24, 2015 9:59am | Updated on May 25, 2015 9:54am
 Mathew Jufeirt, who lives a few houses down from Maria Gonzalez, 5, went with his mother to pay their respects to the Gonzalez family.
Mathew Jufeirt, who lives a few houses down from Maria Gonzalez, 5, went with his mother to pay their respects to the Gonzalez family.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Linze Rice

CHICAGO — Lush, green trees line a short stretch of South Mozart Street, just below 59th Street, where kids were out playing and 5-year-old Maria Gonzalez' family was throwing a party Saturday afternoon.

It was an idyllic day for the neighborhood's families in Chicago Lawn, and it seemed about to get better as an ice cream truck appeared along the street. Maria ran toward it.

That's when things took a horrific and tragic turn, said Estebon Anaya, a city truck driver visiting his parents who live on the block, who said he heard what he believed was "like a tire popping."

"That's when I saw the father run out to her, he was going crazy, yelling," Anaya said. "I wanted to faint."

 Witnesses said Maria Gonzalez, 5, was trapped under this Honda after a car traveling down their one-way street hit her at a high speed while she was getting ice cream before speeding off.
Witnesses said Maria Gonzalez, 5, was trapped under this Honda after a car traveling down their one-way street hit her at a high speed while she was getting ice cream before speeding off.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Linze Rice

Anaya said he rushed over to where he heard the noise and saw people gathering in the street. He frantically started asking people what had happened, thinking possibly a neighbor's pet had been hit by the car he'd just seen whipping down the one-way street.

His gut instinct, however, told him something else was going on.

"I knew it was bad, I didn't want to get closer," he said. "A kid told me, 'No it's a girl.'"

In a community alert Sunday, Chicago Police said 5-year-old Maria Gonzalez was struck and killed by a car near her home on the 5900 block of South Mozart. She was pronounced dead at Advocate Christ Medical Center at 3:51 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

Police are asking the public's help in identifying a dark-colored sedan involved in the hit-and-run incident.

Anaya said once he got closer to see if he could help, at first he only could see two tiny shoes lying in the street, then the still body of a girl.

Someone called an ambulance, he said, but during time it took for paramedics to arrive, little Maria lay stuck, pinned under a small blue Honda parked on the side of the street, where she was wedged after being struck by the passing dark sedan.

Anaya said he watched, helpless and in shock as Maria's father sat next to her, trying to talk to her to keep her awake.

The Gonzalez family couldn't be reached for comment Sunday because they were at church, a neighbor said.

Neighbor Mathew Jufeirt, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1999, said he saw medical personnel removing Maria's body from under the car and putting her into the stretcher. He and his mother, Faith Bottke, were at the Gonzalez home Sunday afternoon laying flowers and a note on the family's mailbox.

"I was outside working when it happened. ... I saw them pulling her from under a car," Jufeirt said. "Then they picked up her lifeless body."

Jufeirt, who lives at the intersection of Mozart and 60th streets, expressed anger as he talked about the lack of respect from many people who speed down the street as a shortcut, rarely stopping at the stop sign.

"No one stops at the stop signs, they're constantly racing through here," he said. 

Neighbor Jesse Anaya, an electrician who has lived on the block for 25 years and has five children of his own, sounded exasperated as he explained how he's tried for years to get the city to install speed bumps on his street, but to no avail.

"Unfortunately something's gotta happen before they'll do anything about it," he said. "It's not gonna do any good for the family now, it's too late already. But maybe it could do something good for the other kids who live here."

 Police are asking anyone with information on this car's driver to contact them after it was last seen leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident that left a girl, 5, dead Saturday.
Police are asking anyone with information on this car's driver to contact them after it was last seen leaving the scene of a fatal hit-and-run accident that left a girl, 5, dead Saturday.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Chicago Police Department

Anaya said it's not atypical for cars to come zipping through his block around 4 p.m. on weekdays, going as fast as 40-50 miles per hour, trying to shave off commute times or avoid traffic on major streets nearby.

DNAinfo Chicago witnessed several cars driving down the street at high speeds Sunday, failing to stop at the stop sign and drawing the ire of neighbors who were outside.

"A lot of other neighborhoods have" speed bumps, Anaya said. "Man, she didn't even have a chance to live."

According to the police alert, which included a photo of the vehicle from nearby security footage, the car is described as a dark 2-door Honda Civic with a dull or primer finish with a sunroof and spoiler. The car may also have a sport muffler, broken lamp and front-end bra, police said. 

The car was last seen driving west on 60th Street leaving the scene.

"Anyone in their right mind would pull over and see what it was, even if it was an animal," Anaya said. "He should turn himself in, he's only making it worse for himself and for the family."

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Major Accident Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: