Attorneys for a man charged with reckless homicide in a 2015 crash in Lindenhurst that killed a 15-year-old girl and her father said Tuesday they have a private accident reconstruction report that conflicts with charges against their client.
Defense attorneys Jed Stone and Paul Wharton, representing Christopher Romano of unincorporated Zion in the criminal case, said that a private accident reconstruction expert was hired for a separate civil case against their client stemming from the same crash.
Stone told Lake County Circuit Judge Victoria Rossetti that the report is “favorable to the defendant (Romano) in the civil case and favorable to him in our case as well.”
Stone said he is forwarding a copy of the report to Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Ori, who is prosecuting the case, and also said Romano’s scheduled Feb. 14 trial date now seems unrealistic.
Rossetti set a Feb. 1 case management hearing for Romano.
The Aug. 29, 2015 crash, at Grand Avenue and Route 45 in Lindenhurst, killed Haylie Winiewicz, a Grayslake North High School cheerleader, and her father Christopher Winiewicz, 50, both of Lindenhurst.
Romano, 33, has pleaded not guilty to charges of reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving resulting in bodily harm.
According to Lindenhurst police, a Nissan, which officials said was being driven by Romano, was traveling north on Route 45 when it struck a Kia, driven by Haylie’s sister, as the Kia was turning left onto Grand Avenue from southbound Route 45. The Kia then crashed into a pole on the northeast corner of the intersection, police said.
Autopsies determined the cause of death for both Haylie and Christopher Winiewicz was multiple traumatic injuries due to a motor vehicle collision, according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.
Following the hearing, Stone and Wharton said the private expert’s report, based in part on police and investigative reports, concludes that Romano legally drove straight through a yellow light at the intersection and that the Kia turned left in front of him, accelerating “from zero to 21 miles an hour,” resulting in the collision.
Wharton said that “despite the terrible tragedy,” Romano was not driving recklessly, and that the absence of charges that he went through a red light backs the conclusion of the private report.
Ori declined to comment after the hearing.
The double fatality drew an outpouring of grief from the community and high school students, with hundreds attending a wake in Gurnee for the father and daughter.
Mourners filled St. Patrick Church in Wadsworth at a double funeral for the two.
Romano, who was not indicted on the charges until June of this year following an investigation by the Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team, is free from custody on a $10,000 bond after bail was set at $100,000.
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