Oak Forest Woman Killed Husband, Ran Over His Head On Dan Ryan: ISP

OAK FOREST, IL — An Oak Forest woman is accused of running over her husband, killing him, after he fell off the top of her car on the Dan Ryan Expressway, court officials said.

Haihua Cheng, 27, is facing charges of reckless homicide and failure to report a deadly motor accident.

According to police, the couple were on their way to a doctor's appointment in Chinatown Sunday when Cheng's husband, 31-year-old John Gutierrez, parked the car and left to put money in a parking meter nearby.

While Gutierrez was out of the vehicle, prosecutors said Cheng moved into the driver's seat and started to drive away. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cheng's attorney told reporters the woman was being physically abused by Gutierrez and wanted to report a leg injury to police, but Gutierrez would not let her.

In an incident that prosecutors said was caught on video, while Cheng drove away, Gutierrez tried to open the door of the car and then climbed on top of the car, hanging onto cargo rails on the roof of the SUV. Prosecutors said Gutierrez was pounding on the top of the SUV as Cheng drove.

A driver behind the car called 911 as Cheng drove and told police he saw Cheng drive down Interstate 94 via the Cermak entrance ramp, prosecutors said. The witness gave police Cheng's license plate and location and followed the car until it pulled off onto the Garfield exit ramp.

The driver told prosecutors he saw a woman's hand stick out of the driver's side window on I-94 and wave traffic by. The car was traveling slowly for the interstate at around 55 mph.

Once on the Garfield exit ramp, the driver said Gutierrez got down from the roof and tried to open the passenger door of the SUV, according to prosecutors. While he was still holding onto the door handle, officials said, Cheng started to drive away, causing Gutierrez to slip and fall.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the witness saw Gutierrez fall and then saw Cheng's car "bounce as it passed over [Gutierrez's] head." According to the medical examiner's office, the man's head and neck were crushed by the rear passenger tire of the SUV.

An anonymous person sent a photo to investigators showing the moment Gutierrez began to slip. According to prosecutors, Cheng then accelerated away without stopping to check on Gutierrez or call the police.

Police on the scene said they found Gutierrez lying in the street and took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead Sunday evening.

Prosecutors said Cheng could be seen on traffic cameras after the incident heading northbound into the city, where she parked the car. Later that night, prosecutors said, Cheng spoke to a friend about her allegations of Gutierrez's domestic violence towards her. The friend told prosecutors she and Cheng drove to a Chicago Police Department station to report the instances, but were told to report the domestic violence allegations in Oak Forest, where the incidents had taken place.

During Cheng's time at both the Chicago and Oak Forest police stations, she did not mention the earlier incident on I-94 or Gutierrez's death.

Oak Forest Police Chief Jason Reid told Patch Cheng did come into the station on Sunday at around 11 p.m. From there, Oak Forest officers took her report and alerted Illinois State Police troopers that Cheng was at the station, where she was then taken into custody.

Cheng is due back in court on May 17.