Man charged with murder after hitting mother, daughter with SUV

CHICAGO — A man has been charged with first-degree murder after police say he struck a woman and her daughter on Chicago’s Near North Side, stopped his SUV, got out and looked at the victims on the pavement, then swung back around and hit the mother again, dragging her several feet.

Edgar Roman, 25, sped off from Hubbard Street near State Street and hit some barricades so hard he tore the hood off his silver Ford Explorer Monday night, police said. He abandoned the SUV after eluding police, and later showed up at the Albany Park District police station around the corner from where he lives and reported it stolen.

He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, filing a false report and leaving the scene of an accident causing injury or death. He’s due in court later Wednesday.

Zoraleigh Ryan, 55, and her 20-year-old daughter had been walking north on State and were crossing Hubbard around 11:20 p.m. Monday when Roman turned down the street and hit them both, according to police.

Roman “stopped, exited and looked at both victims on the ground,” police said. He got back into his SUV, made a U-turn and “accelerated toward both victims still injured in the intersection.” He struck Ryan, “dragging her several feet and causing her death.”

Roman drove north on State Street and was spotted by police driving erratically on Grand Avenue, authorities said. An officer tried to pull him over, but Roman crashed through a barricade at the Merchandise Mart Plaza and tried to go through a second barricade on Wells Street, police said.

The SUV hit the barricades so hard, the front hood fell off, police said. Roman couldn’t get through the second barricade and the officer got out of the squad car with weapon drawn. Roman was able to turn around and continued west through the plaza, escaping the officer, police said.

The SUV was later found abandoned. Roman was arrested when he walked into the Albany Park District station to report the Ford Explorer stolen, police said.

Ryan was pronounced dead on the scene. Her daughter was treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and released. Both are from Chandler, Ariz., though Ryan apparently has ties to the Chicago area, according to her Facebook page.

Ryan’s granddaughter told a television station in Phoenix that her grandmother was “just so sweet, doesn’t hurt anyone. She always makes sure everyone’s good before herself.”

“A decent enough human who felt bad when he hit her would have gone back and got out the car. ‘Oh my gosh, are you okay?’ No, but he hit her again to make sure that she was dead,” Angelina Adams told KPNX. “She didn’t deserve it ... Now my only grandma is gone.”