LOVES PARK, Ill. (WIFR) - A new billboard with a strong message stands in Loves Park, urging the community to understand the risk they take behind the wheel.
The billboard reads Hit a Parked Car? Ticket. Hit Two Children? Nothing. It’s a very strong message and the people behind it hope their grief can serve as a lesson to the policy and the community.
Jenessa Figinsky is haunted by memories of the night her son, 13-year-old Bobby Figinsky died. In October 2017, Bobby and his friend Macayla were walking in the grass along Hononegah Road when they were hit by a truck.
Figinsky says, “That sound of her screaming. The lights from the ambulance. The sound of the engine from the ambulance. I’ll never forget that. “He was alive. He was breathing, but he was dying.”
Macayla survived but first responders couldn’t save Bobby. Macayla’s mom, Corine Mertz says the driver of the truck walked away with no charges for the deaths. Figinsky says, “His driving record shows he has a DUI, that he has negligent driving for crossing the center line and hitting a parked car because the sun was in his eyes. He has charges for those. But he killed a child and there’s no record.”
According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more than 7,500 pedestrians died in 2019. “We can’t make it better for them. We can’t bring justice for them,” Mertz says.
The two women say the victims are someone’s mother, brother, sister and father. They hope the billboard raises awareness that vigilance could save a life.
The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation in 2017. But the Winnebago County State’s Attorney’s Office was responsible for making charges. Marilyn Hite Ross was the acting State’s Attorney at the time. Hite Ross said there was no evidence of criminal conduct by the driver of the truck that hit the teens.
She called it “An unfortunate accident.”
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The Link LonkApril 15, 2021 at 05:12AM
https://www.wifr.com/2021/04/14/billboard-designed-to-inspire-awareness-wish-risks-taken-behind-the-wheel/
Billboard designed to inspire awareness with risks taken behind the wheel - WIFR
https://news.google.com/search?q=Wheel&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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