A 24-year-old man from Elmwood Park has been charged with murder in an April 8 attack in Chicago in which he allegedly ran over another man with his vehicle, police said.
Piotr Wojtania, 24, of the 2400 block of North 77th Avenue, has been charged with a single count of first-degree murder.
He is accused of using his vehicle between 3 and 4 a.m. April 8 to intentionally hit Carlos Aragon, 24, in the 3000 block of North Knox Avenue. Aragon died of his injuries, police said.
Wojtania was identified through surveillance footage as the person who hit Aragon with a vehicle, police said. Aragon lived in the 4100 block of North Albany Avenue, according to authorities.
The dispute with Wojtania started over a $40 debt, according to Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
People who know Aragon urged him not to meet with Wojtania because the two had been having a personal feud. But Aragon disregarded their advice and went through with the meeting.
Witnesses saw a car belonging to Wojtania’s girlfriend pull up near Aragon’s house, and someone recognized Wojtania as the driver. Aragon got into the car and the two left.
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The two went to a Chase bank branch, and Aragon was captured on surveillance video withdrawing money and getting back into the car.
A few minutes later, the car was caught on surveillance video driving into a service alley. Aragon is seen on the video getting out of the passenger side of the car, then walking to the back of the car, Simonton said.
In the video, the car drives backward, hitting Aragon and running him over, then drives over him going forward, Simonton said. Wojtania is then seen getting out and appearing to look at Aragon’s body, she said. The video then shows him getting back in the car and driving off.
A while later, Wojtania can be seen on surveillance video coming back to the service alley on foot and checking Aragon’s body before leaving again, Simonton said.
Someone else discovered Aragon’s body and called police about 8 a.m., she said.
The medical examiner’s office at first marked the case pending. An autopsy eventually determined that Aragon died of multiple injuries suffered when he was run over by a car, and the office said he died in a homicide.
A regional fugitive task force arrested Wojtania outside his home, police said.