Arrest made in hit-run death of aspiring poet
Police have arrested a woman in connection with the death of 17-year-old Tyrone Tillman, an aspiring poet who was killed in a North Philadelphia hit-and-run 21/2 months ago.
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Police have arrested a woman in connection with the death of 17-year-old Tyrone Tillman, an aspiring poet who was killed in a North Philadelphia hit-and-run 21/2 months ago.
Jamina Washington, 21, of the 800 block of North 48th Street in the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia, was arrested Friday morning and has been charged with homicide by vehicle, leaving the scene, tampering with evidence, and other offenses, police said Friday.
Washington was driving south on Second Street near Hunting Park Avenue on July 12 when she tried to speed past another vehicle, police said. That's when she hit Tillman, who had been riding his bike, with her 2008 Chevy Suburban, police said.
Police said Washington stopped and briefly got out of her truck, and then got back behind the wheel and fled. She tried to hide her involvement in the crash by removing her license plate and trying to hide her Suburban, but witnesses had followed her, police said.
They were able to identify Washington and the truck when police arrived. Tillman was pronounced dead at Temple University Hospital shortly after the crash.
The incident was one of eight fatal hit-and-runs this year.
Such crimes, police have said, often take time to solve, because investigators must prove who was behind the wheel of the vehicle at the exact time of the crash.
Tillman, of Harrowgate, would have started his senior year at Thomas Edison High School this fall.
Friday night, Tillman's father, also named Tyrone, said he was too upset to speak about the arrest.
The younger Tillman had been preparing to apply to college when he was killed, and was a fullback on his school football team.
He was passionate about poetry, and performed original compositions with his school's poetry slam team.
Tillman, whose family knew him as "T-Jay," had been one of the first to sign up for the poetry team, and encouraged his friends to join. They made it to the finals of a citywide competition last year.
The team has said it will perform this season in his honor.
215-854-2961@aubreyjwhelan