Getaway-Car Driver Charged with Murder in Baby's Death

The wheelman in the getaway car that struck and killed a baby on the South Side is charged with murder in the child’s death.

Little Dillan Harris, called “Dill Pickle” by his family, was sitting in his stroller with his mom and two sisters at 63rd Street and Ellis in Woodlawn, waiting for the bus for an afternoon trip to the beach, when the car sped through the intersection, hit a pole and ran over the child. The girls and mother were able to escape, but the mom could not pull her son away in time.

The car drove away, then stopped in an empty lot and the men inside ran. Two of them were later taken into custody.

One of those men, Antoine Watkins, appeared before a judge on Monday. As he did, a woman cried out, “You killed my baby.”

Watkins, 21, of the 8100 block of South Bennett in Chicago, is charged with murder and attempting to elude police. Witnesses told police they recognized Watkins as the driver of the car, reports the Sun-Times. The other man has not yet been charged.

About 20 minutes earlier, at 1:40 p.m., according to police, the car was involved in a shooting in the 7700 block of South Kingston Avenue, where a rapper known as Capo, 22-year-old Marvin Carr, was shot twice. He bled out on the sidewalk before he was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead.

Reports the Chicago Tribune from criminal court:

An off-duty Department of Aviation police officer heard shots near 77th Street and Kingston Avenue in the South Shore neighborhood and saw Watkins “calmly walking” to the Toyota, said Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Cooper. The officer followed the car for several blocks and called in the license plate number to police, she said.

Police stopped the car near 65th Street and Richards Drive, but then Watkins drove off at a high rate of speed, going up to 70 mph westbound in an area of 63rd Street with a speed limit of 30 mph, she said.

Watkins ran four red lights and lost control of the car near 63rd Street and Ellis Avenue, crashed into a light pole and then struck the baby at a bus stop outside Hyde Park Day School, Cooper said. The car came to rest about a block away after dragging the stroller — with the baby still in it — to a vacant lot, she said.

As the details of what happened were described in court, the baby’s family members cried and sobbed. Watkins was held without bail.

The man who was shot to death, Carr, is an associate of the Chicago rapper Chief Keef. On Sunday, Chief Keef’s manager announced the rapper would stage a charity concert in Chicago on Friday with all donations to be given to the family of Dillan Harris. Keef, however, will appear by “hologram” because there is an arrest warrant for him in Illinois.

“He loves his hometown Chicago but cannot attend due to outstanding warrants his legal team is addressing,” according to the statement. Keef, who’s real name is Keith Cozart, faces a charge of driving under the influence of marijuana.

Father Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church in the Auburn-Gresham community and a crusader against violence, criticized the concert idea and said Keef is “one of the reasons we have all this violence.”

The priest posted this to his Facebook page: “He has been one of the encourager’s of the Violence.....Instead of having a concert...why doesn’t he Man Up and acknowledge it’s time to stop this violence and Apologize for his part in it!!!! ...

“Chief Keef....SHUT UP!!!!!”