Chicago police arrested a man they say was riding in a car that killed a toddler in a hit-and-run Saturday afternoon.
Antoine Watkins, 21, was charged with murder and attempting to elude police, the Chicago Police Department announced on Monday. He is expected to go before a judge later in the day.
Police said Mr. Watkins was fleeing the scene of a fatal shooting early Saturday afternoon when the vehicle he was in veered onto a sidewalk around 3½ miles away and plowed into a baby stroller containing 13-month-old Dillan Harris.
“It happened in the blink of an eye,” the boy’s mother, who asked not to be identified, told the Chicago Sun Times. “When I looked up, they were just there. I tried my best to save my baby.”
The toddler was taken to a nearby hospital and pronounced dead shortly after. On Sunday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office declared the death an accident.
Although police did not immediately publicize the names of any suspects, they said on Monday that they had arrested Mr. Watkins in connection with the child’s death after spotting him driving an automobile that matched the description of the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run.
It has not yet been made clear if authorities suspect Mr. Watkins was the driver of the vehicle during the Saturday afternoon crash, and the Chicago Tribune reported that witnesses claim seeing as many as three people in the car at the time of the accident.
Around 20 minutes before the fatal crash, the car fled a shoot-out on the south side that ended in the death of Marvin Carr, a 22-year-old rapper who performed under the stage-name “Capo,” police said.
“The streets of Chicago is something,” Capo’s manager, Renaldo Hess, told the Sun Times. “He was murdered. I don’t understand what is going on with all these kids.”
Mr. Watkins faces one count of murder with a strong probability of death or injury, a felony, one misdemeanor count of fleeing or attempting to elude police, failure to carry or display a driver’s license and operating a vehicle without insurance.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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