Lombard woman pleads not guilty to running over boyfriend
A Lombard woman accused of using her car to run over and severely injure her boyfriend pleaded not guilty Monday to numerous charges.
Meanwhile, the man prosecutors say she struck is working to learn how to walk again, family members said.
Elizabeth Donatelli, 20, is free on $200,000 bail. She is charged with aggravated domestic battery, aggravated battery in a public way, aggravated DUI and reckless driving.
Judge Robert Miller on Monday denied a motion by Assistant State's Attorney Bethany Jackson to increase Donatelli's bail after Donatelli failed an Aug. 9 drug test with THC, a component of marijuana, in her system.
Miller said he denied the motion because THC can stay in a person's system for up to 30 days and may have been there prior to the crash.
Prosecutors said Donatelli and her boyfriend, Michael McCabe, 22, had been arguing over infidelity issues on July 23 in a car he was driving. They said McCabe eventually pulled the white, four-door Toyota sedan over at 5:19 a.m. near the intersection of Main and Ash streets in Lombard and began walking away.
Donatelli then jumped in the driver's seat and ran down McCabe, prosecutors said.
McCabe's cousin Karla Avila, speaking on behalf of McCabe and his family, said he suffered a cracked skull, a severe brain injury that required immediate surgery, several broken ribs and a broken leg.
"After nearly three weeks in a medically-induced coma (McCabe) is out of the hospital and now in a rehabilitation center in Chicago," Avila said after Monday's hearing. "Doctors tell us it's too soon after the coma to give us a long-term prognosis, but he may never walk again."
Avila also disagrees with a portion of the prosecutor's chain of events.
Avila said McCabe never was in the car and he left the apartment he shared with Donatelli after she accused him of cheating on her.
McCabe's family has created a GoFundMe page to help cover his medical expenses and his pending move to Arkansas to live with his mother. A benefit also is planned for Sept. 10 in Addison.
Donatelli is next due in court on Sept. 30