mobanmarketMOKENA, IL — Justin Kuhlman is well acquainted with the risks he faces every time he takes his motorcycle out on Mokena-area streets, where he does his best to blend in with other vehicles sharing the road.
But less than a month after being involved in his second crash involving another vehicle, the 28-year-old Mokena resident is looking for answers after he says the driver of a car that struck his motorcycle is now nowhere to be found.
Kuhlman sustained a broken wrist and an estimated $2,500 and $3,000 in damage to his motorcycle in a recent crash in which he says the young driver of a black Hyundai struck his bike and then fled the scene. Kuhlman is now working with Mokena police to find the driver — and the vehicle — as part of an investigation that he knows may never reach a conclusion.
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He says he’s not looking for sympathy or attention, but instead, for the driver involved in the crash that remains under investigation to come forward.
“I just want the person to do the right thing,” Kuhlman told Patch on Friday. “I’m OK, which is the important part, and it could have been way, way, way worse.
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He added, “But just the lack of regard for another human being just upsets me. I just want the person who did this to care what the problem is.”
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The June 21 accident took place nearly seven years to the day that Kuhlman was involved in another crash. That incident was much more serious and, according to Kuhlman, nearly cost him his life. In 2016, Kuhlman said he had just arrived home from basic training and had only recently purchased a motorcycle.
He said he was going through the intersection at Colorado and La Grange in Mokena when a driver traveling north on La Grange turned left in front of Kuhlman’s motorcycle, causing him to strike her car at 35 mph. Kuhlman says he broke his pelvis in four places, broke his wrist, and tore his lateral collateral ligament.
Kuhlman said he spent a week in the hospital and needed to use a walker for a month before recovering fully. His bike totaled, Kuhlman said he gave up riding before only recently purchasing a new motorcycle on Memorial Day of this year.
In the recent crash, Kuhlman says he was driving his motorcycle at around 9:45 p.m. and was en route to Main Park when he says the driver of the other vehicle cut in front of him near the Berkot’s Super Foods parking lot. He said in doing so, his motorcycle crashed into the vehicle, causing him to roll over the hood of the other driver’s car.
Kuhlman says he spoke briefly with the driver, who he said asked why he went through the intersection and claimed he didn’t see the motorcyclist. The conversation, he said, lasted less than three seconds before the driver took off. Kuhlman says he contacted Mokena Police and has been working with detectives to try to gain answers.
Patch has requested the police report from Mokena Police, who said they cannot release the incident report while it remains under investigation.
“Within 40 seconds of hitting me, he left,” said Kuhlman who has posted surveillance footage he secured from Berkot’s on social media in hopes of tracking down the other driver. “He didn’t ask if I was OK, he didn’t come over, he didn’t call the police. He literally just got in his car …and he leaves.”
Kuhlman says that another driver did stop to see if he was OK. But with surveillance footage failing to display a license plate number for the vehicle involved in the crash, Kuhlman said piecing the details of the crash together and identifying the driver has been left largely up to him. He has posted footage of the incident on social media but says so far, nothing has come of it.
Mokena Police Chief Brian Benton told Patch in an email on Friday that officers continue to investigate the crash. But without much to go on — either in regard to the driver’s identity or the vehicle’s information — he said finding the alleged offending driver can be difficult.
Typically, on a hit-and-run property damage accident, Benton says that without license plate information, video evidence, or eyewitnesses who can identify the offending driver or their vehicle, it is often difficult for the police to investigate.
He said the investigator’s first task in a hit-and-run is to try to get a license plate. This could be either from a witness or from available videos from surrounding businesses or residences. If police are able to obtain a plate, they would then see if the vehicle matched the suspect vehicle and if so, contact the vehicle owner and see if it was in an accident, Benton said.
If officers can confirm that it has been in an accident, the next step is to try and verify the identity of the driver at the time of the accident.
But, Benton said, in many cases, criminal charges rarely result, and the insurance companies will usually have to determine the outcome.
As he continues to try to find answers, Kuhlman says he will work with police while also trying to see if he can piece together what has been a difficult and frustrating puzzle.
“I kind of wish I didn’t have to do this,” Kuhlman told Patch. “But what bothers me is that (the other driver) hit me, knew I was on the ground, and didn’t do anything. … Anything could have happened and he just left.”
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