Charges have been filed in connection with the fatal car crash in a Riverdale gas station parking lot that killed Harriett Reynolds, 72, on New Year’s Eve.
Barry Lewis, 62, was charged Wednesday with leaving the scene of an accident causing death and obstructing justice.
Reynolds was run over by a car and killed outside an HP gas station on East 146th Street in Riverdale. She walked there from the nearby senior housing complex, Our Savior’s Senior Housing, where she lived.
Prosecutors said Lewis ran over Reynolds in the parking lot while moving his car between gas pumps. Afterward, prosecutors said, he moved her body before entering the gas station and reporting that “someone had ran over a woman outside.”
Lewis remained on the scene until officers arrived, then told police Reynolds was already lying in the parking lot when he arrived, prosecutors said.
Subsequently, officers allowed Lewis to leave, but his account was later contradicted by surveillance footage from the gas station parking lot, prosecutors said.
At the time of the accident, Lewis’ license was suspended for a felony aggravated DUI in 2006, according to court documents.
Cook County Judge Luciano Panici ordered Lewis remain in custody while awaiting trial. Lewis is to appear again in court Jan. 30.
A lawyer representing Lewis declined to comment on the proceedings.
Reynold’s daughter, Consuela Vernor, expressed relief earlier this week that a person was in custody.
“I really do appreciate the hard work they did, the Riverdale Police Department,” Vernor said. “I thank God for the justice that’s being served. Whatever happens, I know I just have to leave it in God’s hands. I don’t have the strength to deal with it. This loss is too heavy on my heart.”
elewis@chicagotribune.com
