Prosecutors say a woman charged with fleeing after striking a pedestrian, leaving him to die as he crossed the street in Waukegan, was driving intoxicated and with her young child in the car.
The Waukegan Police Department and Waukegan Fire Department responded around 8:05 p.m. Friday to the area of Lewis Avenue and Harding Avenue for a report of a man down call.
A passerby called 911 to report the discovery, according to Waukegan Deputy Police Chief Scott Chastain.
Officers arrived and found a critically injured pedestrian who had been struck by a vehicle.
Officers began performing CPR on the unresponsive man until paramedics arrived.
Chastain said paramedics transported the 54-year-old male victim to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan where he was pronounced dead.
The Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT) responded to conduct an investigation and process the scene.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Elizabeth Cannon said video surveillance was recovered from a business.
The video showed the victim west to east across Lewis Avenue south of Harding Avenue when he was struck by a northbound vehicle.
Cannon said the area was well lit at the time of the incident.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office has not yet released the identity of the victim, who is a resident of Waukegan.
The driver of the vehicle, later identified as Rosario Fernandez, 33, of Waukegan, had fled the scene, Chastain said.
Fernandez was driving her gray 2020 Hyundai Accent when she struck the male victim.
Cannon said Fernandez called police at 8:59 p.m., nearly an hour later, to report she had hit someone. Detectives conducted an interview with her.
She said she did not stop because she had her five-year-old child in the car and was “really scared,” so she went home, Cannon said.
Officers saw the Hyundai with a dent in the car hood, the windshield cracked and a fabric imprint in the front grill.
Cannon said officers realized a police squad car license plate reader had captured the Hyundai traveling northbound on Lewis Avenue one minute after the crash.
Fernandez admitted to drinking alcohol prior to the crash, Chastain said.
MCAT investigators were investigating her for driving under the influence.
Standardized field sobriety tests were conducted on Fernandez and investigators noted an indication of intoxication, Cannon said.
Cannon said Fernandez had an odor of an alcoholic beverage, bloodshot glassy eyes, flushed skin, had a sway and admitted to consuming two shots of tequila an hour and a half prior to the crash.
MCAT obtained a warrant from a Lake County judge for a blood draw after Fernandez refused further testing.
MCAT concluded that Fernandez was operating a vehicle while under the influence, Cannon said. The state’s attorney’s office did not charge her with driving under the influence.
Fernandez was charged with failure to report a crash resulting in death, a Class 1 felony, and leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death, a Class 2 felony.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a petition to detain Fernandez pending trial and she appeared for a detention hearing on Monday afternoon.
An attorney representing Fernandez said his client is a lifelong Lake County resident and a single mother, only has prior offenses for traffic matters and she did call the police to inform them of the crash after it happened.
The attorney asked for Fernandez’s release from custody pending trial and said she would appear for future court hearings.
Lake County Judge Michael Nerheim denied the state’s petition to detain after saying that the charges filed against Fernandez are non-detainable under the Illinois SAFE-T Act and he could not hold her in custody.
“I don’t really think the State has met their burden to establish that this is a detainable offense under the first prong,” Nerheim said.
The judge noted that prosecutors could file a second petition to detain Fernandez if they charge her with aggravated driving under the influence causing death, which is a detainable offense under the SAFE-T Act.
Fernandez was placed on Level 4 pre-trial services monitoring and ordered not to drive a vehicle, not consume illegal drugs or alcohol and submit to random testing.
She was also placed on a curfew at the discretion of pre-trial services and ordered not to possess weapons.
Fernandez is scheduled to appear in court again on May 27 for a status of preliminary hearing.