Avon Lake woman pleads guilty in 2019 hit and run

Prosecutors drop charge in exchange for plea

A 23-year-old Avon Lake woman pleaded guilty Sept. 9 to an amended indictment in connection with a May 2019 hit-and-run that seriously injured a Bay Village bicyclist.

According to court officials and records, Allison Spoerl reached a plea agreement with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to negligent assault, not stopping after an accident, tampering with evidence and falsification.

A charge of aggravated vehicular assault was dropped.

On May 15, 2019, Spoerl allegedly struck then 51-year-old bicyclist Patricia “Patty” Banks with her 2017 Ford Focus at the intersection of Lake and Moore roads and fled the scene.

A day later, Avon Lake police located the dark gray vehicle in an Avon auto body shop with front end and window damage.

Spoerl turned herself in to police May 17.

In a civil lawsuit filed May 13, 2021, in Lorain County Common Pleas Court by Banks, it states that following the impact of the collision, Banks, now 53, was slammed face-first into the car, shattering the windshield and then was thrown to the pavement where she suffered critical injuries.

Glass from the windshield lacerated a major carotid artery and Banks was at risk of dying from critical blood loss, the suit says.

Banks’ life was saved when a nurse driving near the scene was able to compress the arterial bleeding, the filing says.

In addition to bleeding, the lawsuit alleges Banks suffered bilateral subarachnoid hemorrhages (bleeding in the brain), bilateral pulmonary contusions, bilateral pneumothorax (punctured lungs), right superior and inferior pubic ramus fractures (pelvic fractures), multiple complex facial lacerations and a severe arm laceration with permanent disfiguring/scarring, right patellar tendon fracture requiring surgery and therapy, acute blood loss anemia and a left facial nerve injury.

Spoerl fled the scene, and according to the suit, falsely claimed she believed she had struck a trash can, the filing states.

Common Pleas Judge John R. Miraldi will sentence Spoerl at 10 a.m., Nov. 1.

Spoerl