Evanston driver charged in Waukegan pedestrian death

An Evanston man has been charged in the death of a 51-year-old woman who was struck while crossing a street Tuesday in Waukegan, police said Wednesday.

Waukegan police responded about 8:20 p.m. Tuesday to reports that a vehicle had struck a pedestrian on the 1400 block of North Lewis Avenue, according to a news release. Officers arrived to find a woman in the street, and witnesses told them she was struck by a minivan as she attempted to cross the street.

The woman, later identified as a Waukegan resident, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Witnesses provided the officers with the license plate number for the minivan, police said.

Police reported finding the minivan and its driver, Maurice Pettigrew, 42, of Evanston, within minutes near Williamsburg Drive and Georgetown Lane.

Investigators believe the woman was improperly crossing Lewis Avenue in the middle of the block when she was struck by the silver 2008 Chrysler Town and Country that Pettigrew was driving, police said.

Pettigrew was charged with leaving the scene of an injury or death accident and having no valid driver's license. He was in Lake County jail on $100,000 bail.

Toxicology results of Pettigrew were pending.