Moments after she learned her 15-year-old niece, Violet Harris, was involved in a fatal traffic accident, Terri Dean said she traveled from her home in Burnside to the scene in South Shore at 2 a.m.
Only a handful of cars passed her on the street, she recalled, as mostly silence fell over the city. Remnants of what occurred there hours earlier painted a harsh picture of her niece’s final moments.
Harris, an honors student at Hyde Park Academy High School, was killed Saturday night in an apparent hit-and-run while she rode a Lime electric scooter in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood.
According to police, the car’s driver also hit a 13-year-old girl, who was transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital in fair condition. As of Tuesday afternoon, no additional details were available as detectives continued to investigate.
Harris’ death underscores growing concerns about the risks of riding small, low-speed electric vehicles and the shortcomings of the user agreements riders have with the companies that rent them.
E-scooters, in particular, have become the transportation of choice for Illinois children under 18, and they also have the lowest helmet use rates among kids, according to community health researchers at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
Illinois requires riders of these electric vehicles, specifically those that travel between 10 and 20 mph, to be at least 18. But high-speed e-scooters, which can travel up to 50 mph, and are available for purchase at retailers, have no state regulations, including an age limit.
Even with local age restrictions, children can rent an e-scooter without parental consent or age verification.
And while the number of people using new electric modes of transportation, including scooters, bikes and unicycles, has increased nationwide, reports of injuries on scooters are increasingly common, according to hospital administrators.
In 2025, there were more than 12.9 million trips on shared bikes and scooters, the highest annual total on record, the Chicago Department of Transportation announced earlier this year.
“As these modes become more widely used, CDOT is continuing to invest in safer infrastructure and street designs that better support all users,” a CDOT spokesperson said.
Specific data on injuries and fatalities tied to these vehicles in Chicago or statewide was not immediately available to the Tribune, although they are becoming increasingly prevalent statewide, one state official said.
“Some of these high-powered devices now travel at highway speeds, yet there are few clear standards, age limits and safety requirements,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said.
There have been an estimated 164 fatalities and 37,200 treated injuries involving e-scooter rentals between 2017 and 2023 in the U.S., according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Chicago launched its e-scooter sharing program with several operators including Lime and Divvy in 2019. It’s currently among 133 cities in the U.S. with shared e-scooter systems, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
Lime Micromobility, the transportation company that owns the e-scooter Harris used, said in a statement to the Tribune that it is working on ways to support the investigation.
“We’re deeply saddened to hear about this incident involving an alleged hit-and-run driver and our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family. We are in touch with the city and ready to support their investigation, as well as conducting our own internal investigation.”
“My niece lost her life in a hit-and-run … Any new laws should prioritize protecting people on our streets … so tragedies like this don’t keep happening,” Dean said.
A family mourning
Hours after the accident, the scene was crossed off with red tape, Dean recalled, and a medical glove was soaked in blood on the ground.
The pavement was glistening wet, which she assumed was the aftermath of her niece’s blood being washed away by first responders.
With it, she felt her niece had been washed away too.
“This is where my niece took her last breath,” Dean recalled thinking. “This is where someone took her life and disregarded her like a piece of trash.”
Her godmother, Keisha Washington, who had known Harris since she was 5 years old, added that she can feel the loss all the way in Houston, Texas, where she lives.
“I can feel the weight of her absence all the way from here,” Washington said. “I think the world is noticeably darker without her in it.”
Since the accident, Dean said their family gathered for a private balloon-release ceremony in South Shore. But the family, including Harris’ mother and children, have not been back to their home, Dean said, because Violet is not there.
As their family continues to grieve, Dean said the family wants Harris to be remembered for being the silly, loving and humorous girl they knew her to be.
“Everything about her was contagious: her laugh, her humor,” Dean said. “She loved life … I know she would’ve gone far.”
Now, they are focused on justice for their loved one, Dean said, and on raising money through GoFundMe to give Harris the farewell she deserves.
“If I hit a cat, I pull over to the side of the road and call 311 … For them to hit two babies and to keep going like they were trash in the road — I have no sympathy.”
