East Chicago driver accused of abandoning injured passenger, 15
Post-Tribune staff report August 29, 2012 4:30PM
Updated: August 30, 2012 8:03PM
A 21-year-old East Chicago man has been charged in Lake Superior Court with failure to stop after an accident resulting in serious bodily injury involving a 15-year-old passenger.
Julian Francisco Juarez, of the 5600 block of Walsh Avenue, is charged with leaving the scene after he crashed into a fence and garage at about 1:30 p.m. June 23 in the 6700 block of Maryland Avenue, Hammond. A witness told police the car that crashed into property was last seen heading east on Martha Street with a steel pole sticking out of the front and rear windows.
Police received a call that a 15-year-old had been struck by a vehicle, but later learned the boy and his brother were getting a ride home from a party in the 6800 block of Kentucky Street in Hammond with Juarez when the teen was injured, the probable cause affidavit states.
On the way home, the teen told police they encountered a group of individuals who started throwing gang signs at them in the alley, so Juarez turned around, drove onto Kentucky Street and pulled into an alley in the 6800 block. After telling some friends what happened, three more people jumped into the car. At about that time, a green SUV with the same individuals who had thrown the gang signs came down the alley toward them at a high rate of speed. Juarez put the car into reverse. The teen told police he heard a loud bang and discovered he was bleeding. Everyone jumped out of the car and ran, and the driver took off, witnesses told police.
The teen was taken to St. Catherine Hospital in East Chicago and then transported to a pediatric trauma center in Chicago for treatment of a laceration to the left side of his scalp, which required 20 stitches or staples to close.
On July 10, Juarez told police he had repaired and replaced damaged parts on his car after the crash. Juarez’s license was suspended with an infraction.
