The family of Lucinda Rondon-Stanley, who was struck and killed by a minivan last week in Deerfield, have filed a lawsuit against the driver and his company.
According to the lawsuit, Rondon-Stanley picked up a cake Friday at Deerfields Bakery for her daughter’s 21st birthday as she was hit by a 2008 Honda Odyssey.
Several witnesses said that the 53-year-old woman was still alive and crying out for help after she was hit by the minivan in the parking lot by the owner of an adjacent business.
Deerfield police said that the driver of the minivan didn’t stop after striking Rondon-Stanley.
Although police and paramedics tried to help, Rondon-Stanley was pronounced dead at Highland Park hospital less than two hours later.
According to autopsy results, Rondon-Stanley died from injuries sustained from the hit and run. They haven’t determined yet if her death was accidental.
Police took Larry Biernacki, the driver of the minivan, into custody about 1.5 north of the incident and released later that day. No citations or criminal charges have been filed yet.
The lawsuit accuses Biernacki of neglecting to avoid hitting Rondon-Stanley as she carried her cake across the parking lot behind his business and “failed to stop his vehicle after striking the pedestrian with his minivan, dragging her underneath it.”
“It is totally unimaginable how someone could be going fast enough to inflict fatal injuries, or how he could have not seen this pedestrian,” Andrew Stevens, the family’s lawyer said.
“A big part of the urgency in filing this wrongful death suit is so that we have the power of court to make sure that some things that usually happen — but are not happening here — to make sure that they happen,” Stevens added.
Rondon-Stanley left behind a husband and two daughters.
For information about personal injury claims, visit Cohen & Cohen, P.C.
