Charges increased for teen driver who hit woman and dog

Lilly was a bright-eyed Labrador retriever who brought joy to her family and smiles to her neighbors. On a sunny afternoon Feb. 27, her owner, Kimberly Sharpe, took her for a walk from which she never returned.

While in a crosswalk, a car grazed Sharpe and ran over Lilly. In the weeks that followed, tears have been shed, fingers have been pointed and residents of the Hawthorne Place neighborhood in Springfield are questioning the justice system.

“I always take my two dogs for a walk around the block,” Sharpe said. “We were heading east on Laurel (and about to) head south on Lowell. It’s a four-way stop, so we stopped. There were plenty of cars. Everybody had stopped at the four-way stop. The person that hit me had stopped.

“And once we started to cross, he turned left and just accelerated through the turn … and hit me on the side of the car. It happened so fast. I fell to the ground, and somehow Lilly had gotten behind me, and he ran her over with the two tires on the driver’s side.

“He was going fast because he didn’t even see us until after he had hit us and ran her over, and then he had to slam on his brakes to stop the car,” Sharpe said.

The 16-year-old driver emerged from the vehicle. But witnesses said they did not hear him express remorse or regret.

A man identifying himself as the young man’s father declined on March 14 to discuss the matter with Illinois Times or make his son available for comment.

But neighbors had plenty to say.

Rachel Bland, a Springfield kindergarten teacher, was also walking her dog when she witnessed the incident.

“I heard screaming, and by the time I turned around the dog was getting run over by the driver’s side back tire of the car. I ran over and tried to give her assistance. I called the police.”

Lilly lay on her side in pain, laboring to breathe.

Witnesses said the teen driver said he didn’t see Sharpe or her dogs in the crosswalk but then tried to deflect blame.

“He said, ‘Well, maybe the dog was pooping in the street and that’s why it was stopping.’ I told him, ‘No, the dog had a stress response because it got hit by a car. That’s why there’s poop on the street.’ He was just kind of trying to shift blame,” Bland said.

Sharpe, who is an orthopedic nurse, immediately sought medical attention for Lilly.

“A kid got out (of the car) and he just said, ‘I didn’t see you.’ And I said, ‘You just hit my dog. You just killed my dog.’  And he said, ‘She’s going to be fine.’ 

“I ran to my house, got my keys, grabbed my car and just pulled it over to where she was. A gentleman helped me pick Lilly up and put her in the back of my car,” Sharpe said.

Sharpe drove to the Animal Emergency Clinic where efforts were made to resuscitate the 1-year-old dog.

“It was just so heartbreaking to see her face when they were taking her back. I just knew she was gone.  I sat in the room and then the vet came and said she had passed,” Sharpe said.

Although a witness called the police, Springfield officers never responded to the scene.

“I don’t know what their normal protocol is,” Sharpe said. “I just feel like when somebody calls and tells you they’ve been hit by a car, is it normal for them to say, ‘Oh, you have to drive down to the station?’ I know I wasn’t paralyzed, but I still had injuries. So, my boyfriend’s mother drove me there.”

Initially, officers ticketed the driver for two minor offenses, failure to yield to a pedestrian and failure to report the accident. But Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser told IT that he was altering the charges.

“In this case the initial tickets that were written by law enforcement were two petty offenses that we have dismissed, and we are refiling additional charges including two Class A misdemeanors,” he said. As of March 18, the driver is now charged with failure to provide information and render aid after an accident involving injury to person/property damage, failure to yield right of way to a pedestrian in crosswalk and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. The teen is scheduled to appear in court April 10.

Milhiser said if the driver is found guilty or pleads guilty, his office will recommend to the judge that he receive probation or a conditional discharge with a fine, driving classes, public service, restitution and write a letter of apology.

Whether Sharpe files a lawsuit remains to be seen.

“We would like to do some sort of action, just for the point of a lesson and to honor her life,” she said. “We just don’t know what’s going to happen as far as the court system.”

Sharpe said she believes the teen’s license should be suspended.

Sharpe’s boyfriend, Nick Enno, added that neither the teen nor his parents, who live in the neighborhood, have reached out to offer condolences or express concern.

Enno said they purchased Lilly for $1,800 and she was his girlfriend’s running companion.

Sharpe added she remains perplexed by the young man’s alleged actions.

“It’s a big four-way stop, so he had plenty of time to accelerate. To stop and then gun it through the turn, (that’s) some reckless driving, especially if you say that your vision isn’t as good as it could be because of the sun. Why wouldn’t you go slowly through the turn if you know you can’t see anything?”

This article appears in Spring Guide 2025.