A Wisconsin man who suffered serious injuries after crashing a stolen car during a high-speed police pursuit near Richmond has been sentenced to two years in prison.
Andrew Mays, a Racine, Wisconsin resident, told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that he was delivering pizza in Racine on April 11, 2021.
He said he went up to a customer’s house to drop off a delivery when his car, a gray 2020 Honda Civic, was stolen.
The Hebron Police Department located the Honda around 12:30 a.m. April 12, 2021, according to the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office.
Officers attempted to stop the Honda but it fled eastbound on Route 173 from Route 47 in Hebron, McHenry County Sheriff’s Deputy Tim Creighton said at the time.
Officers pursued the vehicle eastbound on Route 173 into unincorporated Richmond when the vehicle left the roadway in the 8000 block of Route 173, which is east of Greenwood Road.
It struck a few mailboxes and then overturned several times, Creighton said. The vehicle was occupied by two teens, one of which was ejected from the car.
One of Mercyhealth’s emergency field vehicles — called MD-1 — was called to the scene to help treat the two victims.
MD-1 vehicles are staffed by residency-trained emergency medicine physicians and they can help paramedics stabilize a patient before they are transported to the hospital from a scene.
A LifeNet medical helicopter was also called to the scene.
A 15-year-old boy, who was in the passenger seat, was flown to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver, identified as Parrish I. Watts, 19, was transported by ambulance to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry where he was taken into surgery.
Watts, of the 1300 block of Maple Street in Racine, Wisconsin, was charged with two counts of aggravated fleeing police, aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm and two counts of possession of a stolen vehicle.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County court said that the 15-year-old passenger in the stolen vehicle suffered multiple fractured vertebrae, multiple fractured ribs and a fractured radius.
The complaint also said that Watts drove the Honda in excess of 100 miles per hour during the pursuit.
Watts was arrested after being released from the hospital.
On Wednesday, Watts entered into a negotiated plea deal with the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.
He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated fleeing police, a Class 4 felony, in exchange for prosecutors dismissing his other charges.
McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt approved the plea deal and sentenced Watts to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
The sentence will be served at 50% and Watts is also receiving 328 days of credit for time served in the McHenry County Jail awaiting sentencing.