Video: Bystanders Leave Man to Die in Chicago Street

Family of Marques Gaines suing 7-Eleven
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 22, 2016 9:04 AM CDT

Family members of a 32-year-old attacked by a man and then killed by a cab as he lay unconscious in the street outside a Chicago 7-Eleven on Feb. 7 returned to the scene of the crime Thursday. "The simple reason we're here is that a corporation that keeps its stores open 24 hours a day … that knows that it's targeted by criminals needs to provide decent, competent, basic security, and that wasn't done here," says attorney Chris Hurley, noting the family has filed a wrongful death suit against 7-Eleven, Chicago Taxi, and the taxi driver, per the Chicago Tribune. Surveillance video shows an assailant—whom a security guard had just removed from the 7-Eleven, per WGN—punch Marques Gaines and leave him lying in a crosswalk. More than a dozen bystanders walk past before Gaines is struck by a cab.

WGN reports the security guard called 911 but then did "absolutely nothing" to help besides "stand there and watch him get run over," says Hurley. "He's remarkably unqualified for the job that he's in. And he's been placed there by a corporation who can afford [somebody] who's properly trained," he adds. "I've never heard of anything like this where people just walk by a person lying in the street and nobody help [sic]," says Gaines' aunt, who raised him after his parents died. Watching the footage "was gut-wrenching," her daughter adds, especially seeing "that he could have been saved. He could still be here with us." The family also questions why police have yet to make an arrest in the case, despite having "a clear photograph" and video of the attacker. (Click for more on Gaines' story.)

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