Prosecutors say a woman chased down and intentionally struck and injured a bicyclist with her car “at full speed” as the victim tried to flee away from her vehicle in Zion.
The incident happened around 1:30 p.m. on August 22 at the 7-Eleven at Sheridan Road and Barnhart Court in Zion.
Officers learned a male victim was bicycling on Sheridan Road passing Barnhart Court.
Mariha D. Evans, 19, of Zion, was driving her car and ran the stop sign, according to Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Shepherd.
Shepherd said Evans slammed on her brakes and nearly struck the bicyclist.
The two got into a verbal altercation. Evans and her sisters, who were passengers in the car, told officers that the bicyclist spat at them and biked off.
Shepherd said multiple witnesses reported Evans stalked after the victim who was bicycling away.
She followed the man with her car and attempted to drive him off of the road, Shepherd said.
He went into the McDonald’s parking lot in an attempt to lose her but she reportedly continued following him.
The victim then went to the 7-Eleven parking lot where Evans drove into him while Evans’ sisters leaned out of the car yelling at the victim, Shepherd said. The sisters also threw bottles at him moments earlier, Shepherd added.
One of the witnesses reported Evans drove at full speed when she crashed into the bicyclist.
Video surveillance from the 7-Eleven corroborated the events and showed Evans’ car striking the back of the bicycle, causing the victim to fly off of his bike and land on the ground, Shepherd said.
Another witness said Evans’ vehicle made a beeline for the bike and ran him down.
The victim’s knee popped out and popped back into place when he hit the ground. He suffered road rash and scrape marks.
Evans told officers she accidentally hit the victim when he came at her, which officers reported made “absolutely no sense” because the front of Evans’ car hit the rear of the bicycle, Shepherd said.
Evans faces charges of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a vehicle and reckless driving.
Evans is currently out on bond for a retail theft case out of Wisconsin. She also has numerous other retail theft cases.
“The defendant is only 19 years old. But at 19, she has already crossed the line from child-like recklessness to intentionally driving down and running over a bicyclist,” Shepherd argued during a detention hearing.
“Her actions in this case are indicative of wanton and disregard for human life and highly dangerous lack of self-control,” Shepherd said.
Shepherd said Evans hunted down and hit the victim with her car and then expressed no remorse.
Lake County Judge D. Christopher Lombardo denied a petition to detain Evans pending trial, saying that he found there were conditions of release rather than keeping her in jail.
The judge told Evans that her behavior could have led to a worse outcome than what happened.
He referenced a viral incident out of Las Vegas from 2023 where teenagers fatally ran down a bicyclist with their car while laughing and recording the incident.
“Cars are dangerous if they’re misused like that. You could have hurt somebody very seriously,” Lombardo told Evans during the detention hearing.
Evans was placed on Level 4 pre-trial services monitoring with a curfew if pre-trial services deem it necessary.