Oak Lawn village manager charged in hit-and-run

Oct. 10 crash critically injured pedestrian, 48

Oak Lawn’s village manager has been charged with three misdemeanors in connection with a hit-and-run crash in Chicago Ridge last month that critically injured a pedestrian, police said.

Chicago Ridge police announced Friday that Larry Deetjen had been charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to give information or render aid resulting in injury and failure to give information after striking a person. He also received moving violations for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to exercise due caution, police said.

Chicago Ridge Police Chief Robert Pyznarski said the department had sought the approval of felony charges against Deetjen, but was unable to secure them.

The longtime village manager turned himself in Thursday night and was released from custody a short time later after posting bail, his attorney Michael Walsh said.

“It’s an unfortunate accident,” Walsh said Friday. “We hope the victim is improving, but absent that I have no other comment.”

Deetjen, 70, was driving his village vehicle in the 10100 block of Harlem Avenue around 8:02 p.m. on Oct. 10 when he struck a 48-year-old man and continued on without stopping, police said.

The victim, who police said was homeless but who has family, was found unresponsive, but breathing just east of the roadway, Pyznarski said. He suffered multiple fractures to his body and head, as well as brain swelling, according to police reports, and the chief said last week his condition had not improved since the crash.

A motorist who was driving in the lane directly to Deetjen’s left later told police he saw the pedestrian crossing Harlem and laid on his horn to warn both parties, but his attempt was unsuccessful.

Police used a combination of witness statements and video surveillance evidence to identify the offending vehicle, a blue 2009 Ford Crown Victoria with municipal plates that was registered to the village of Oak Lawn, and trace it back to Deetjen.

In a brief statement the village manager provided police outside his home a few hours after the crash, he told officers he had not known he’d struck anyone with his vehicle, the chief said.

Deetjen said he’d just left a wake and was driving northbound on Harlem Avenue in the lane closest to the curb when he heard a vehicle to his left honk its horn, according to police reports.

He said he then felt an impact and saw something fly up in the air, but believed it was just a “barrel or barricade” and continued driving to his gym in Countryside, the report states.

His take-home village vehicle, which was impounded as evidence, had front passenger side damage consistent with the crash, according to the report.

Deetjen was taken into custody and submitted to a breathalyzer test and gave a urine sample in the early morning hours after the crash, the report states.

The test showed no alcohol present in Deetjen’s system and he was released from custody without charges later that day, police said.

Following the crash, Oak Lawn’s village board placed Deetjen on paid administrative leave, pending the conclusion of the police investigation. In that capacity, he has not had access to a village vehicle, officials said.

The crash marked the second time in recent years Deetjen has left the scene of a traffic accident before police arrived.

In 2013, he drove his village-owned vehicle into a ditch in Palos Park after he said he’d “miscalculated a turn on Southwest Highway and got stuck in a snow/ice-covered shoulder,” according to an email he sent the Southtown following the incident.

Deetjen and his wife, who was a passenger in the car, then walked to a nearby CVS store, where he called for a ride home and summoned the Oak Lawn Public Works department to come get the vehicle, according to a police report.

He faced no charges in connection with that case and Oak Lawn village attorney Paul O’Grady said the two incidents were “unrelated.”

An investigation of last month’s crash corroborated Deetjen’s statement that he had visited the gym after the crash before traveling to O’Hare airport to pick up his daughter who had flown in from New York.

Deetjen’s daughter told police she hadn’t noticed damage to her father’s car when he picked her up, but that he’d told her one of of his headlights had been knocked out after he struck an “unreflected barricade,” according to a police report.

She told police her father’s demeanor appeared to be normal and he did not seem distressed when he

Deetjen picked her up, the report states.

A forensic analysis of Deetjen’s cell phone found no call or text message activity around the time of the crash, according to the report.

Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury said Friday that with the case now wrapped up the board likely would review the police reports and convene a special meeting in the coming days to discuss Deetjen’s future with the village.

“It’s just a real tragic situation and we just are keeping everyone involved in our prayers,” she said.

In Deetjen’s absence, Oak Lawn Police Chief Randy Palmer has been pulling double duty as the acting village manager.

Deetjen is due in court Dec. 10 in Bridgeview, police said.