Family of woman killed in Deerfield parking lot files wrongful death lawsuit

The family of a 53-year-old woman fatally struck by a vehicle last week in a Deerfield parking lot has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the alleged driver.

The woman had just picked up a cake for her daughter’s birthday when she was struck about 1:50 p.m. Sept. 13 in the Deerfields Bakery parking lot in the 800 block of Waukegan Road, according to Lake County Coroner Howard Cooper and attorneys for the family.

The driver of the vehicle, a 68-year-old man, was arrested on the scene, police said. He was cooperating with investigators and had not been charged with a crime as of Sunday, police said.

The Corboy and Demetrio law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of the family Sept. 18, saying that the driver, who owns the Music Center of Deerfield next to the bakery, “failed to keep a safe and proper lookout for pedestrians, failed to avoid striking the pedestrian and failed to stop his vehicle after striking the woman, dragging her underneath it.”

Both the driver and his company were named as defendants in the suit.

“The family is anxiously awaiting to see what criminal charges will be brought against this driver who failed to see a pedestrian who was clearly smack-dab in front of him in an open parking lot,” attorney Thomas Demetrio said. “The family understandably wants to see our criminal system work and learn why in the world this driver fled the scene.”

A Cook County judge granted Corboy & Demetrio’s motion for a protective order Sept. 19 and ordered that the driver’s 2008 Honda Odyssey minivan, which had already been returned to him by police, be preserved and protected for evidence, the law firm said.