Woman Pleads with Driver Who Hit Car and Ran: 'Please Do the Right Thing'

The following is a letter submitted by a Patch reader, with permission to share on Patch.com.

My daughter and I were the victims of a hit-and-run accident the night of January 6, at about 6:30 p.m. We were traveling east on Laporte Road in Mokena near 116th Ave when we saw a vehicle coming straight at us.

There is nothing scarier than seeing headlights coming right at you.

This car was not just a little over the center line but was completely in our lane. I swerved into the snow-filled ditch. The side of our car was narrowly missed as my mirror went flying into the street. We sat in the ditch stunned for a few moments. I expected the other driver to stop. When I noticed in my rear view mirror that the vehicle just kept going I was shocked! I called the police and waited. On a busy stretch of road during rush hour nobody else stopped to see if we needed any help. People actually drove around my car pieces lying on the road while I sat in the ditch with my hazards on. When the police officer arrived I gave him the best description I could. He said it would be a “long shot” to catch the person. It makes me sad with that many witnesses that it would be considered a “long shot”.

Since I didn’t get a chance to meet the driver, I would like to say just a few things.

Dear “Blinding Headlights”,

Sorry I can’t address you by your proper name but I didn’t get the chance to meet you properly last night. I’m not sure what caused this accident last night. Maybe it was distracted driving, maybe you were drinking, maybe you are an inexperienced teenage driver.... Honestly at first I was worried because I thought maybe you had a heart attack! As I saw you drive further down the road I was shocked when you didn’t stop or turn around.

Maybe you were scared and panicked. I guess I will never know the events leading up to this accident or why you chose not to stick around after. Maybe this wasn’t even a big deal to you last night. Maybe it was just 5 seconds of your day that you are trying to forget.

However, I just can’t seem to forget it yet. It keeps replaying over and over in my mind and it has become a very big deal for our family.

As parents to 9 children, our budget is often pretty tight. Unexpected expenses like a car repair are a huge burden! It isn’t too late for you to do the right thing, though. I can only imagine that living with this burden would be much worse than just taking responsibility for your actions. We will need to take our car to the body shop now to replace the mirror, possibly realign the door, and check for damage underneath the car from our trip into the ditch. If you, the responsible party, would like to make any donation towards our car repair it would be greatly appreciated. You could drop off money to help cover our $1,000 insurance deductible with no questions asked at St. John’s UCC in Mokena or New Life Church in New Lenox.

I would love to teach our children that people do the right thing!

I, too, have learned a very big lesson from all of this. I will make sure I pay more attention to those around me. It is sad that we have all become so busy that we can’t be bothered to help others. I am still holding out hope that another driver witnessed the whole incident and will call Mokena Police Department with a better description of the vehicle or even better, a license plate number.

While I may never know why you didn’t stop last night to make sure we were OK or to take responsibility for your mistake, I forgive you. I can only do that because I believe in a God that forgives all of us for all of our mistakes. I am just thankful my daughter and I are OK. It could have been much worse!

Sincerely,
Kerri Gorecki

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