Prosecutors have dismissed charges against a Wauconda woman, who is the daughter of a high-ranking police officer, after she was charged with running over a mother of three, leaving her dead, and fleeing the scene in Gurnee.
Hunter Saikin, who was 20 at the time, of Wauconda, was charged in August 2024 with failure to report a motor vehicle crash involving death, a Class 1 felony.
Gurnee Police Department Detective and Public Information Officer Shawn Gaylor said a 2011 Honda Civic, driven by Saikin, was driving northbound in the left lane of Hunt Club Road around 9 p.m. on November 6, 2023.
Another vehicle, a 2019 Buick Encore, driven by a 24-year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin, man, was also traveling northbound on Hunt Club Road approximately 100 feet north of the crosswalk at Washington Street, Gaylor said.
The Buick struck Teresa Williams, 56, of Round Lake Beach, who was wearing all black clothing as she walked westbound in the left lane of Hunt Club Road to cross the roadway, court documents said.
The impact caused Williams to be thrown into the right lane of northbound Hunt Club Road.
Gaylor said Saikin saw the Buick stop in front of her and drove her Honda around the Buick where she ran over Williams, who was lying in the roadway.
Williams was transported by the Gurnee Fire Department to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with critical injuries and died.
Investigators with the Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT) responded to the scene and conducted the crash investigation.
Gaylor said Saikin fled the scene but returned approximately an hour later, which is over the allotted time in Illinois to report a crash, and cooperated with the investigation.
Police reports, as well as a lengthy final report from the Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team (MCAT), disputed that account and said Saikin did not cooperate with the investigation after returning to the scene.
The crash was called in to the police around 9:06 p.m. and Saikin did not return to the scene until after 10:20 p.m.
Her father, Jason Saikin, who was a deputy police chief at the time with the Glenview Police Department, arrived at the scene at 10:20 p.m. and approached officers while flashing his police badge, the reports said.
Jason Saikin is now a police officer with the Lakemoor Police Department after joining the agency in November 2024.
He told officers at the scene that his daughter, Hunter, called him and said she saw a car with its four-way flashers on, went around it and went “bump bump,” police reports said.
Jason Saikin told officers his daughter panicked because she was unsure what the bump in the road was, police reports said.
He also said his daughter talked to someone on the scene sometime after the collision who advised there was a body, police reports said. She asked him if she had killed somebody and he told her to come back to the scene.
The woman returned to the scene in the black 2011 Honda a “short time later” after her father had already arrived at 10:20 p.m., police reports said.
Police reports said Hunter Saikin told officers, “I didn’t know what to do. Why was this person stopped all of a sudden? Boom! All of a sudden, I’m over something” and said she pulled over “up the road” and called a friend.
While the woman initially reportedly told her father that the stopped Buick she went around had its hazards on, she told police that the car did not have its hazards on when she drove around it, the reports said.
Saikin told investigators she did not see anything in the road, was driving around 30 mph when she felt the bump and then pulled over down the road and debated whether or not to turn around but ultimately decided to continue driving and pick up her friend.
Jason Saikin told officers he had to “protect” his daughter and when officers asked if they could check her eyes, her mother, Mary Saikin, told them they could not, police reports said. Mary Saikin was previously the Glencoe Public Safety Deputy Chief.
Officers noted they smelled an odor of cannabis coming from Hunter Saikin’s car and when they asked her why it smelled like cannabis, she just shook her head “no.” Her mother told officers the answer was “no” and that she had an attorney, the reports said.
Mary Saikin continued to insist that Hunter Saikin had nothing to say to officers, who told the young woman that she was an adult and that it was her choice if she wanted to speak with them, the police reports said. Hunter Saikin then told officers she did not want to speak.
Saikin, as well as her parents, told officers that she was refusing to provide consent to a blood and urine sample.
Investigators decided to cite her for failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash after she refused consent. They asked her again for consent to screenings but she refused all requests and was released from the scene, the reports said.
Saikin was later charged by a Lake County grand jury on August 28, 2024, with the felony offense, which carries up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
An arrest warrant was issued for her and she later appeared in Lake County First Appearance Court where she was released with pre-trial conditions.
She was ordered not to leave the state of Illinois without permission and to refrain from consuming alcohol, cannabis or any illegal substances.
A wrongful death lawsuit was later filed against Saikin as well as the driver of the Buick, accusing both of them of being negligent.
The lawsuit said the driver of the Buick was speeding 11 mph over the limit and that he and Saikin both failed to see Williams in the roadway.
The suit additionally accused Saikin of failing to provide assistance to Williams after she was run over, in violation of state law. Williams left behind a wife and three children.
Court records show the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office dismissed the Class 1 felony charge against Saikin in late January, a year and a half after it was filed.
Her case had been set for an arraignment hearing and continued 13 times by a judge during the span the case was active before prosecutors dismissed it.
Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office Director of Communications Sara Avalos told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that the office is “always evaluating evidence” in all of its cases.
“In this case, we learned new information that turned our focus to a brief, but important, segment of the video evidence that was not reviewed at the time of charging. In light of that evidence, and in consultation with the family we dismissed the charges,” Avalos said.
“The family expressed support for the decision. Our office is committed to fair and ethical prosecutions, which means reconsidering evidence when necessary and letting the evidence guide every decision we make,” Avalos said.