A 5-year-old Tinley Park girl was killed Monday afternoon when she ran into the street while chasing a ball and was struck by a car, police said.The girl, whom police declined to identify, was struck by a car driven by a 16-year-old boy about 4 p.m. in the 6500 block of 175th Street.
Brenda Bettenhausen, who lives next door to the girl’s family, said the girl had chased a basketball into the street before the car hit her.
Tinley Park police were investigating the crash Monday evening. One officer took photographs of the front end of a Buick Park Avenue parked on 65th Avenue near the accident scene while others measured tire marks on the street.
A basketball sat on the front lawn of the girl’s house as distraught family members hugged one another on the front porch. The family did not return a phone call Monday night.
The girl was pronounced dead at an area hospital, police Cmdr. Pat McCain said, adding that no charges would be filed until today at the earliest.
“It’s under investigation. ... If there are charges, (they) will be in the future after we look at it,” McCain said.
He had no further information on the driver other than saying he appeared “in shock himself.”
The car was eastbound on 175th Street when the girl was struck. Two postal workers driving westbound on 175th Street were on the scene seconds after the accident.
“It looked bad, very bad,” said Dee Diamond, of Matteson.
“I thought of my daughter when I saw the girl (lying) in the street,” said Regina Mayerhofer, of Griffith, Ind., who called 911. “The girl has blue eyes and blond hair, just like my daughter.”
Moments later, Diamond and Mayerhofer clasped their hands over their mouths and wept when Bettenhausen told them the girl had died.
“Oh, no. Oh, Lord. Oh, poor baby. Poor baby. She was so little, Lord have mercy to be with that family,” Diamond said.
Mayerhofer said she had a bad feeling when she saw the girl lying on the street.
“(The driver) was just getting out of his car and was parked in the middle of the street. He was shaking,” she said, adding that he had slammed on his brakes but couldn’t avoid hitting the girl.
The girl “did what any child would do,” Mayerhofer said. “Any child, if they see when their ball goes out (into the street), they don’t see what’s going on on the other side.”