Former Elgin student dies in Colorado crash
July 2, 2012 9:00PM
Updated: August 4, 2012 6:19AM
Larsen student killed: A 14-year-old boy who had moved from Elgin to Lakewood, Colo., just two weeks ago was killed Friday afternoon when he was hit by a car while walking. According to CBS4 News in Denver, Robbie Fehlman was killed while a friend walking alongside him, 14-year-old Joshua Frenette of Lakewood, was injured but was released from a hospital after treatment. According to local police, the youths were walking along a sidewalk at about 4:52 p.m. when a car coming from behind them drove off the road and hit them in the back. The driver, Rhonda Romero, was allegedly driving under the influence of prescription drugs, police told CBS4 News. Romero was charged with vehicular homicide and careless driving. Elgin School District U46 officials said Fehlman had been an eighth-grade student last school year at Larsen Middle School.
Elgin
Accused of barricade theft: Jason F. Born, 43, of the 400 block of North Spring Street, Elgin, was charged with felony theft Sunday after two people called police, saying they had seen a man put two city-owned barricade stands into his pickup truck at Cooper Avenue and Spring Street on Sunday afternoon. A police officer said he found the pickup, with the stands still in it, parked outside Born’s house, and Born admitted he had stolen the stands in order to sell them as scrap metal. On Monday, a judge set his bail at $20,000 and assigned him a July 12 court date.
DUI with kids: Miguel A. Franco, 48, of the 2000 block of Berkshire Circle, Carpentersville, was charged with four counts of aggravated driving under the influence and three counts of endangering the life of a child after an arrest at 11:11 p.m. Sunday in Elgin. A police officer said he stopped Franco’s car on State Street at Jerusha Avenue for driving without headlights and smelled alcohol on Franco’s breath. According to the officer, Franco’s license had been suspended and three children between the ages of 10 and 14 were sitting in the car’s back seat, none wearing seatbelts. Monday morning, a judge set his bail at $40,000 and assigned him a July 12 court date.
Fire started by fireworks: A brush fire on Wednesday in a field behind a home along Sycamore Drive was started by children playing with fireworks, police said Monday. Police said two boys, age 8 and 11, had been lighting smoke bombs in heir backyard and decided to also light one in the grassy field at about 4:20 p.m. That set afire the dry grass and weeds there, and flames quickly spread. The uncle of one of the boys told police he tried to extinguish the fire with a garden hose but was unable to keep up with it and called the fire department to finish putting out the fire. Police said no buildings were damaged and smoke bombs are legal in Illinois, but they cautioned the boys and the uncle not to light them close to dry plants.
Took car, left bike: The owner of a 2002 Chevrolet Cavalier told police that after he worked on the car in his driveway Wednesday, he forgot to lock it up and left the car keys on its front seat. When he went out to check on it again Thursday, the car had been stolen. The theft took place in the 700 block of Thoreau Drive. An officer sent to investigate noticed that someone — possibly the car thief — had abandoned a green BMX bicycle on the parkway across the street, so he took that into custody as evidence.
Carpentersville
Violating order of protection: Brian M. Straukas, 34, of the 500 block of Yale Street, West Chicago, was charged with violating an order of protection Sunday. He is accused of sending threatening text messages to a person protected by the order. Bail was set at $3,000, and he was given a July 23 court date.
McHenry County
Teens killed: Two 16-year-old Woodstock youths were killed in a one-car traffic crash at about 2 a.m. Sunday in the 14000 block of Davis Road in Dorr Township, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said Monday. He said evidence indicates that a Hyundai Elantra was westbound on Davis Road when it went out of control and went off the road. The vehicle began to roll and hit a brick pillar and a tree. Both teens were pronounced dead at the scene by members of the McHenry County coroner’s office. The coroner’s office identified the victims as Alec J. Kaiser, who was driving, and Jacob S. Norys. Both were wearing seatbelts and the vehicle’s airbags deployed, the sheriff said.
Sea Doos collide: An Antioch man was injured in a collision between two personal watercarft Saturday on the Fox River, McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren said Monday. The crash occurred near the Broken Oar, at 614 Rawson’s Bridge Road, Port Barrington, at about 7 p.m. Nygren said Phillip M. Pleotis, 22, of Antioch was operating a Green Sea Doo GTX when he made a U-turn and collided with a Sea Doo Bombardier driven by his friend, 25-year-old Mitchell Rogalski of Cary. Pleotis was taken to Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington with a broken arm. Both men were charged with careless operation of a water vehicle.
