Marques Gaines: Family Of Man Knocked Out On Busy Street And Left There Unconscious Sues Shops That Refused To Help

A surveillance video released Wednesday captured the last moments of Marques Gaines, 32, a hotel cocktail server who was knocked unconscious on a sidewalk outside of a Chicago 7-Eleven. The footage shows Gaines lying on the ground for more than two minutes. Gaines lies unattended on the busy road until a cab accidentally runs over him — he later died at a nearby hospital. Gaines’ assailant remains at large and has not been apprehended by police, even though his face is clearly seen in the footage.

The video of Marques Gaines’ death is posted below, but be warned: this video contains content that may be disturbing to some viewers.

As the Chicago Tribune reports, the Gaines’ family and their attorneys held a news conference Thursday, where they revealed that they had filed a lawsuit against the 7-Eleven local corporation that had done nothing to stop the crime from taking place.

Attorney Chris Hurley said that the 7-Eleven franchise should have been well-aware that it was located in a volatile area and have well-trained security personnel on hand who would have prevented the altercation that led to the death of the aspiring screenwriter.

Marques Gaines, killed outside a 7-11, rocking to Toto’s Africa, and not knowing the words https://t.co/IZIjs7BGxc pic.twitter.com/7P5mii8HGU

— Mitch Dudek (@mitchdudek) April 21, 2016

Gaines had studied at Northern Michigan University. His close friend from college, Ben Wielechowski, revealed that they had a pact to give up something precious if they failed to submit a writing every week. He said it once cost Gaines his best pair of sneakers.

Hurley went on, “the simple reason we’re here is that a corporation that keeps its stores open 24 hours a day and invites the public in … that knows it’s targeted by criminals needs to provide decent, competent, basic security, and that wasn’t done here,” he concluded.

Gaines’ cousin, Drexina Nelson, who managed to watch the footage with her mother Wednesday, described it as “gut-wrenching.” Gaines’ aunt, Phyllis Nelson, said “I’ve never heard anything like this before, where people just walk by a person lying in the street and nobody helps … I just don’t understand it,” she said.

In the grainy footage, Gaines, who is seen with chips in his hand, is accosted by a thick-set man in sweatpants, dark hooded sweatshirt and white sneakers. It is obvious that Gaines is trying to avoid a confrontation as he is seen running away from the man before he is knocked out with solitary right-handed punch. Within seconds, people mill around him with two men frantically searching through his pockets. His family later confirmed that his cellphone and debit card have been stolen.

Marques Gaines was punched, robbed & run over in the street – and no one tried to help him https://t.co/yfcZadZDaC pic.twitter.com/Wxjlyqur37

— DNAinfo.com Chicago (@DNAinfoCHI) April 21, 2016

Tom Kalayil, the franchisee of the store, said he was deeply pained by the event that had occurred and expressed his deepest sympathy to the family, but said that the store had no hand in his death. He passed on the blame to the bar next to his store — Mother Hubbard’s, where Gaines had been drinking and dancing with co-workers. The franchisee said the incident escalated outside the store, but stated from somewhere else.

The taxi driver has also been blamed for taking the turn too and quickly and not driving in a reasonably safe manner.

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Previously, attorneys had filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver who hit Gaines, Medhi Seyftolooi, and the Chicago taxi company he worked for, in a Cook County Circuit Court. They also included the Globe Taxi Association and Mother Hubbard’s as additional defendants. This week the attorneys included 7-Eleven in the lawsuit.

Gaines’ family’s attorneys are hoping that eyewitnesses will come forward and help them identify Gaines’ attacker. “We would to find the assailant,” Drexina Nelson said. She and her mother believe the man should be charged with murder. Social psychologists have said the “bystander effect” killed Gaines. Everybody was simply waiting for someone else to step up.

[Image via Instagram]