A 60-year-old man has been charged after prosecutors say he hid an ATV after he witnessed another man, who was driving the vehicle, crash and suffer critical injuries in Round Lake Beach.
The Round Lake Beach Police Department and the Greater Round Lake Fire Protection District responded around 7:18 p.m. Sunday to Long Lake Drive and Clearwater Circle.
Round Lake Beach Deputy Police Chief Ryan Rodriguez said a 40-year-old man was injured during an ATV crash.
A preliminary investigation shows the ATV was traveling at a high rate of speed on Long Lake Road.
The operator lost control of the vehicle and it rolled over, Rodriguez said.
Police officers on the scene began performing CPR on the 40-year-old man, who was unconscious and not breathing.
Paramedics arrived and rushed the man to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville.
Officers arrested Robert V. Martin, 60, of Round Lake Beach, and charged him with obstructing justice, a Class 4 felony.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Francis DeRosa said during a bond hearing Monday that the ATV involved in the crash was not at the scene when officers had arrived.
Martin went to the crash scene an hour after the incident and told officers it was his ATV that was involved.
He admitted that he moved the ATV into a garage immediately following the collision, DeRosa said.
Martin was letting the victim drive his ATV at the time of the crash, which Martin witnessed, DeRosa said.
DeRosa said that Martin thought the victim was dead following the crash and immediately moved the ATV from the scene.
The victim remains hospitalized in a vegetative state and is not likely to survive, DeRosa added.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak ordered Martin held on a $100,000 bond.
The Major Crash Assistance Team of Lake County (MCAT) was called to the scene to conduct an investigation.
The crash remains under investigation by the Round Lake Beach Police Department and MCAT.
Martin remains in the Lake County Jail and would need to post $10,000 cash in order to be released.