Sept. 01--An 88-year-old woman has died of injuries she suffered in a chain-reaction accident last week caused by a man fleeing police on the South Side, officials said Monday. The crash also killed a 66-year-old man.
Margaret Silas, of the 11300 block of South Parnell Avenue, died Saturday at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
An autopsy conducted Monday determined that Silas died of complications of multiple injuries caused by the Aug. 24 accident. A secondary cause of death was heart disease, according to the office.
Paul Forbes, 26, of the 10300 block of South Rhodes Avenue, is charged with murder, aggravated fleeing and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, all felonies, in connection with the crash. He was also charged with driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor, disobeying a red light signal and driving without registration.
Forbes suffered minor injuries in the crash and was taken into custody at the scene at King Drive and 75th Street, police said.
In addition to Silas, Willie Owens, 66, of the 7500 block of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, was killed in the accident. Owens was working on his stalled pickup truck when he was struck by the vehicle Forbes was driving, officials said.
In addition to Silas and Owens, three other people suffered injuries in the crash.
Forbes had been wanted on a warrant after months of harassing his former girlfriend, prosecutors said Thursday during a court hearing, where he was ordered held without bond on murder charges from the accident.
The warrant was still active when police pulled over Forbes' Pontiac Bonneville for an unrelated traffic violation in the 7500 block of South St. Lawrence around 7:30 p.m. Aug. 24, prosecutors said.
Forbes sped off as officers were getting out of their car and ran a red light at King Drive and 75th Street, just missing a CTA bus but striking several cars and hitting Owens, prosecutors said.
Forbes was going 80 or 90 mph through the intersection, prosecutors said. He hit a Saturn SUV, sending it airborne and crashing into a fence, they said. The Pontiac then pinned Owens against his truck, severing his leg and pushing the pickup into a Chevrolet Cruze.
Silas was in another vehicle involved in the crash, officials said.
Forbes took off running but was arrested after a brief chase, prosecutors said.
Before the accident, Forbes was facing home invasion and other charges stemming from several incidents with his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors disclosed.
The harassment began last summer when Forbes showed up at the woman's house, climbed on the hood of her car and kicked the windshield, they said. He allegedly threw bricks through two living room windows.
Four days later, Forbes pushed in the woman's air conditioning unit and tried to enter her home, prosecutors said. Four months later, on Nov. 13, he entered her home, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the girlfriend, they said. He finally left the home.
