Arlington Hts. police investigating car-pedestrian accident

The 22-year-old man hit by a car early Saturday in Arlington Heights has been identified.

Michael Newkirk, 22, from Crystal Lake, was listed in stable condition Monday at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge after being struck on the 400 block of West Palatine Road.

Newkirk was unconscious when Arlington Heights police and emergency medical technicians arrived shortly after the car’s driver called 911 at 3:39 a.m. Police said he was hit by the front of the car then hit the hood and the windshield before flying 75 feet through the air.

The victim suffered severe damage to his head as well as several broken bones, said Capt. Nicholas Pecora of the Arlington Heights Police Department, and it was his understanding that Newkirk had not regained consciousness.

Newkirk’s parents own a home in Crystal Lake, but authorities believe they moved out of state and the young man stayed in the area, and they are not sure where he has been living.

The driver, a 36-year-old Palatine man, was on his way to work and said he did not see the man before striking him. That block of Palatine Road is dark, and Newkirk was wearing dark clothing, Pecora said.

Authorities do not know why he was in the street.

The driver was treated at Northwest Community Hospital for injuries to his face from the broken windshield and tested negative for alcohol, Pecora said. The speed of his car has not yet been determined.