Nov. 16--Linda Ewen was on her way to work, gazing out from her Uber cab, when something caught her eye among the people running and walking along Lake Michigan on the sunny Monday morning.
"I wasn't focused on the road. I was looking at the lake. I saw what looked like a big man hanging from a tree," said Ewen, 35. "I kind of did a double-take, like what the heck, you know?"
At first, she thought the man was working out, stretching his arms, then wondered if it was a prank.
Ewen, a case worker for the city's Department of Human Services, said the man's feet were about a foot from the ground and he was wearing a large coat with a hood on it. The tree was near a bike path not far from Foster Avenue.
"Everyone was just biking and jogging. Nobody seemed to notice,'' Ewen said.
After a few moments, she decided something was not right and placed a call to 911 shortly before 8 a.m.
The man, identified by the Cook County medical examiner's office as 42-year-old Abdela M. Hagaito, of the 6000 block of North Kenmore Avenue, was pronounced dead on the scene about 8 a.m.
Authorities said it was an apparent suicide.
Yellow crime tape surrounded an area about half the size of a soccer field east of Lake Shore Drive, yards from the northbound lanes. A police panel van and at least one police SUV were parked nearby.
Police said they were conducting a death investigation.
