A 20-year-old Streamwood woman has been arrested more than two years after a hit-and-run crash killed a 67-year-old man walking on Chicago's North Side. Joscelyn Mercado was taken into custody Wednesday in the 0-100 block of East Pine Street in Streamwood, in connection with the August 2024 death of James Reed Tillman, who was struck while walking in the 1900 block of West Howard Street.
A Deadly Night on Howard Street
Chicago police allege Mercado was driving intoxicated on Aug. 17, 2024, when she struck Tillman, who was walking in the street, according to WGN-TV. The crash happened around 11:30 p.m. on Howard Street, and the driver fled the scene afterward, police said. Tillman, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office as an Evanston resident, was taken to St. Francis Hospital by an Evanston ambulance, where he was pronounced dead.
A black pickup truck traveling “at a high rate of speed” hit Tillman that night, according to the Chicago police account relayed by the Chicago Sun-Times. Witnesses told police they saw the pickup drag Tillman about six feet before it continued traveling east on Howard Street. He was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston at 11:59 p.m., the newspaper reported, citing police.
Surveillance Video Led Police to the Truck
Shortly after the crash, police used surveillance video to trace the black pickup truck to the 1100 block of West Lunt Avenue in Rogers Park, where officers found it shortly before midnight, the Sun-Times reported at the time. That trail eventually led investigators to Mercado, whom police identified as the driver who struck Tillman. The gap between the crash and her arrest stretched more than two years before she was finally taken into custody this week.
Mercado now faces four felony counts of aggravated DUI involving an accident and death, along with one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death. WGN-TV reported that her detention hearing was scheduled for Thursday, though the outcome of that hearing has not been confirmed.
A Broader Pattern on Chicago Streets
Tillman's death adds to a grim pattern on Chicago roadways, where the size and speed of vehicles involved in crashes can worsen outcomes for pedestrians. The city noted that in 2024, more than half of pedestrians killed in Chicago were hit by an SUV or larger vehicle, according to the City of Chicago. Tillman, who lived in Evanston, was simply walking in the street when he was struck, according to the police account of that August night.
