April 30--The death of a Magnificent Mile hotel bartender who died Super Bowl Sunday after being punched and then run over by a taxi as he lay unconscious in the street has been ruled a homicide, officials said Friday.
Marques Gaines, 32, died of multiple injuries from being run over by the taxi early on the morning of Feb. 7, but his death also was attributable to the assault that left him in the street, the Cook County medical examiner's office said.
Gaines' family had maintained from the beginning that they considered his death a homicide, and relatives were pleased with the medical examiner's ruling, according to Drexina Nelson, Gaines' first cousin.
Gaines had been drinking with co-workers at a sports bar when he got into an altercation outside a 7-Eleven store at State and Hubbard streets where he had stopped to buy chips.
A man punched Gaines as he was moving away, leaving him in the street, unconscious. Surveillance video from the scene shows that almost immediately, two people approached and appeared to rifle through Gaines' pockets. His cellphone and debit card were stolen.
Other people walked past without helping. Nearly two minutes after he was punched, Gaines was run over by a cab. He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
The Tribune obtained a copy of the video as part of a lawsuit filed by attorneys working for Gaines' family in Georgia.
Attorneys for Gaines' aunt Phyllis Nelson and Drexina Nelson filed a suit against the 7-Eleven corporation, blaming a security guard for failing to protect Gaines, as well as the cabdriver and the cab company.
A Chicago police spokesman was unavailable to provide an update on the case Friday.
wlee@tribpub.com
