Questions surround hit-and-run that left Inverness boy, 13, in critical condition

A second suburban child riding a bike was the victim of a hit-and-run in less than a week, authorities said Saturday.

The latest victim is a 13-year-old boy who authorities believe sneaked out of his home in Inverness and was hit before dawn Saturday while riding his bike on his way back home. In a strange twist, the boy was driven home to by an unknown person who dropped him off, injured, and apparently drove off without alerting the boy's family, Lake County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Christopher Covelli said.

The boy was in critical but stable condition Saturday afternoon, he said.

Saturday's crash took place between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. while the boy was riding his bicycle on Route 59, south of Route 22, in Cuba Township, Covelli said. After the unknown person dropped off the boy at his home in the 1100 block of Glencrest Drive, it appears the boy got into the home on his own, he said. His parents woke up, found him seriously injured and called 911.

The boy was taken to St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates and then transferred to Lurie Children's Hospital in Chicago due to the extent of his injuries.

"What we believe is that he sneaked to a friend's house. We believe he was riding home from his friend's house when he was struck by a vehicle on Route 59," Covelli said. "We are working to determine if the person (who dropped him off) was a good Samaritan or the offender."

The crash is under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff's Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit. It's unknown if the person who took the boy home is a man or a woman, Covelli said.

"We are very extensively looking at video surveillance, and we will be working with pieces of debris left behind by the offending vehicle to try to determine the make and model," Covelli said.

Anyone with information about the crash is encouraged to call the Lake County Sheriff's Office at (847) 549-5200 or Lake County Crime Stoppers at (847) 662-2222.

In the earlier accident, 7-year-old Lexi Hanson was injured on Mother's Day by a hit-and-run driver while she was riding her bike in St. Charles Township. She was out of the hospital by Friday. Brian Quartuccio, 42, of the St. Charles area, surrendered himself to authorities the next day and his bail was set at $500,000 by a Kane County judge.