Victim of Arlington Heights accident regains consciousness

A young Crystal Lake man seriously injured early Saturday when he was struck by a car in north Arlington Heights has regained consciousness and is making remarkable progress, his mother said.

Doctors are optimistic that Michael Newkirk, 22, has avoided brain and serious spine damage, Angela Newkirk, said late Tuesday night. She said he regained consciousness that day, and his condition was listed as stable at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

Angela Newkirk listed several broken bones and other injuries her son suffered when he was struck by a car shortly after 3:30 a.m. Saturday in the 400 block of West Palatine Road and she said he might need skin grafts.

Police said he was hit by the front of the car, then the hood and the windshield, flying 75 feet through the air before he hit the ground.

Angela Newkirk said her son had been visiting the home of friends in the area, and found his truck wouldn’t start. She said she wasn’t sure if he was walking to the train station, to his grandparents’ home in Arlington Heights or to meet a friend who said he would pick him up when the accident occurred as he was crossing the street. He was struck by a car driven by a Palatine man on his way to work.

Michael is a graduate of Central High School in Crystal Lake, where he played hockey and football, said his mother. He is a student at the Crystal Lake campus of Columbia College of Missouri, where he is studying criminology. He also works as a security guard at Ross Dress for Less in Crystal Lake.

“He’s been an athlete all his life, and being in shape like that has helped him with this,” said his mother. “We’ve also been doing a ton of praying. We have a faith group in Michigan, and people have been praying here, too.”

Angela Newkirk and her husband, Dan, recently moved to Michigan and live in the Ann Arbor area. Michael has been living in the family home in Crystal Lake but had been scheduled to move into his first apartment.

Hospital personnel have said her son is doing remarkably well, she said. “We’ve been told many times that he’s very lucky. They’ve never seen anyone recover this fast.”