Fleeing Shoplifter Runs Over Pursuing Employee: Prosecutors

Kyra Sledge, 24 | Cook County Sheriff

What started out as a retail theft evolved into an aggravated battery of a merchant charge when a woman ran over an Orland Square Mall employee, prosecutors said.

Kyra Sledge, 24, appeared for a bond hearing before Cook County Associate Judge John Hynes on Tuesday in Bridgeview.

Prosecutors said that a store employee pursued Sledge into the parking lot. The woman had gotten into her car when the employee stood in the empty parking space in front of her.

Sledge ran over the employee who was splayed across the hood of her car, and then fell off to the ground, court records indicated.

The employee was taken to the hospital where he was treated for a sprained knee, proseuctors said.

The assistant public defender told the judge that Sledge is the mother a young, special needs child.

“She understands the seriousness of the charges,” the assistant public defender said. “She respectfully requests electronic home monitoring or a reasonable bond.”

Sledge is also charged with several misdemeanors, including retail theft and reckless driving.

Judge Hynes set bail at $50,000. In lieu of 10-percent bond, the judge ordered electronic home monitoring and a curfew so she can work and take her child to school.

Her next court date is Oct. 6 in Bridgeview.