Violations Alleged At Hinsdale Car Wash

HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale resident said Tuesday that traffic remains a problem at Fuller's Car Wash and that the business continues to violate the rules.

On July 17, a 16-year-old Fuller's Car Wash employee struck 14-year-old Sean Patrick Richards, who died three days later. The worker ended up crashing into Fontano's Subs, 9 S. Lincoln St., which is across the street.

At Tuesday's Village Board meeting, Hinsdale resident Sarah Barclay said she demanded the village do a traffic study at Chicago Avenue and Lincoln Street.

She said the business has at least five curb cuts, which makes the intersection dangerous.

Additionally, she said Fuller's employees routinely park cars on the sidewalk, violating village rules.

"If you look at the tire patterns on the ground, it is clear that they use the sidewalk to park vehicles," Barclay said. "On any busy day, you look where they enter the car wash. It backs up traffic."

She added, "If Fuller's is not going to stop this behavior because clearly the death of a child is not stopping it, then I think it's incumbent on the village to do something."

She also questioned the strength of the bollards that the business put up shortly after the crash.

Village President Tom Cauley said that just a few hours before, Brian Richards, the 14-year-old's father, emailed him that he hired an engineer who is an expert on bollards. That engineer presented a study that addresses such issues, Cauley said.

The village forwarded the study to its structural engineer, who analyzed the Fuller's bollards at the business' expense, Cauley said.

If that study sheds new light on the issue, he said, the village would revisit it.

"I do know the police chief has spent an incredible amount of time in the last couple of days (on the issue)," Cauley said. "I know they put cones around there now. I got another email from Mr. Richards saying they're violating the cones, driving around them. If that's the case, we're on it."

Earlier this month, the board voted to require Fuller's to add more bollards, but that project can't begin until the spring, Cauley said.

As for parking on the sidewalk, Cauley said the village would start issuing citations.

Barclay said she had been unable to get police action yet.

"On Sunday, when I went to the police station, I had taken photos five minutes prior. (An officer) said he couldn't retroactively give a citation," she said. "He said he would go over and talk to them. I have been told that three times."

In an email to Patch on Wednesday, Brian Richards said the civil engineer his family has engaged has determined the wrong tests were performed on the bollards. That includes the additional bollards, which he said would not protect a person in an incident similar to the one in July.

"In other words, the public is still in danger of another tragedy, despite the existing bollards," Richards said. "Of course, this point is almost moot as the Fuller’s employees continue to drive around the bollards and across the sidewalk and the public parkway."

Patch left a message on Wednesday Fuller's Car Wash.