North Aurora teen pleads guilty in death of Marmion classmate
A North Aurora teen pleaded guilty Thursday to reckless driving in the death of a fellow Marmion Academy senior who fell off a vehicle's running board at the school in May and suffered a fatal head injury, Kane County officials said.
Jerin Martin, 18, agreed to a sentence of 12 months of conditional discharge and 30 hours of community service in the death of Stephen J. Woodcock, 17, of St. Charles, the Kane County state's attorney's office said.
Students were celebrating the last day of classes on May 13 at Marmion, 1000 Butterfield Road in Aurora, when Martin began towing classmates on skateboards with his car — a 2011 black Acura MDX. Woodcock was riding outside Martin's car on the passenger's-side running board while using his arms to attempt to balance, prosecutors said.
Martin, who told police he was driving about 10 mph, accelerated and braked while making a left turn. Woodcock lost hold, fell and hit his head on the pavement. He was taken to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove with critical head injuries and died three days later.
The accident happened a week before both boys were to graduate from Marmion.
“Every aspect of this case is tragic — the timing, the ages of those involved, and the number of people personally and directly affected by it,” Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon said in a statement. “Stephen Woodcock's death occurred at a time when these two young men, their families and their friends should have been celebrating an important milestone.”
After speaking with those involved, McMahon said it was clearly an accident.
“It's clear to me that Mr. Martin did not intend to harm his friend, and I hope he has learned a powerful lesson. But the fact stands that his conduct was reckless. This resolution strikes a fair balance; it holds Mr. Martin appropriately accountable yet still allows him to move forward with his life and make his mark in a positive way,” McMahon said.
Just days after Woodcock's death, Marmion awarded 132 diplomas to its graduating seniors, including one given posthumously to Stephen that was accepted by his brother, Matthew.