Police have found a pickup truck that struck and killed a 67-year-old Evanston man over the weekend.
About 11:30 p.m. Saturday, a black pickup truck traveling “at a high rate of speed” hit James Reed Tillman as he was crossing the street in the 1900 block of West Howard Street in West Ridge, Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
Witnesses told police they saw the pickup “drag” Tillman about six feet after “veering” around him and continuing eastbound on Howard, a traffic crash report said.
Tillman suffered a fractured femur, scrapes to his head, a large gash to his midsection and internal bleeding, the report said. He was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead at 11:59 p.m., according to the report.
Shortly after the crash, responding officers found surveillance footage and traced the pickup to the 1100 block of West Lunt Avenue in Rogers Park, where they discovered the pickup shortly before midnight and made an arrest.
A person was taken into custody, but as of Monday the person had been released without being charged, police officials said.
Tillman had just parked his car and was on his way to the Tally-Ho pub with his two nephews, 27 and 60, when he was hit, his sister Connie Tillman King told the Sun-Times Monday night. His younger nephew chased down the vehicle on his scooter as Tillman was being dragged down the street, but he wasn’t able to catch up.
Tillman King said she hasn’t heard anything from police and is wary from a prior experience when her nephew was killed and the case was never solved.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had a situation where a family member was killed where the police didn’t find anyone or hold them accountable,” Tillman King said. “They need to find whoever did this — for our family.”
Tillman’s family was raised in the house their parents bought in 1963 just behind Northwestern University’s football stadium. It created a love for sports, though his two main passions were going out to have a good time and being around family — which included his two sons and four grandchildren, Tillman King said.
He bonded with his nephews over basketball and football, and family members would gather at his home to watch games on TV, Tillman King said.
“He liked to have fun, he liked to be around family,” Tillman-King said. “He was the life of the party.”
His party antics usually included singing — often old-school rap, his son, Ta’Sean Tillman, said.
James Brown’s song “Get On Up,” however, transformed him.
“That song comes on, and he’d bust out the room singing and dancing,” Tillman told the Sun-Times late Monday night. “He’s a bundle of joy. That’s why I’m gonna miss him so much.”
He said he hadn’t heard from Chicago police yet about his father, but he appreciates what the police are doing. He just wishes they would be more compassionate and forthcoming about the case.
As for the driver of the pickup truck, Tillman said he bears no ill will. He wants justice.
“I just want justice,” Tillman said. “It’s just a shame he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I just pray that that person has remorse because this man was loved. I understand, it’s an accident, I don’t wish anything bad on that person, I just want justice for my dad.”