Man charged with reckless homicide in pedestrian death
A Wisconsin man was charged with reckless homicide and several other offenses after one of two men struck by a vehicle Friday afternoon as they walked on a Waukegan street died of injuries early Saturday.
Police said he admitted using heroin before the accident.
Aaron B. Stoen, 26, of Twin Lakes, Wis., was being held Saturday in the Lake County jail on $500,000 bond in connection with the accident about 12:30 p.m. in the area of Sunset Avenue and Oneida Place on Waukegan’s north side.
The men were not from Waukegan, but their identities were withheld by authorities.
According to Waukegan police, the men were in the residential area doing door-to-door sales of satellite television packages. Police said a vehicle being driven by Stoen west on Sunset went out of control, jumped the curb and struck the men. Both were taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center, one by Flight For Life helicopter and the other by ambulance, with serious injuries.
Police said one of the men died early Saturday from injuries suffered in the accident. An autopsy is scheduled for Monday. The other man remained hospitalized but was expected to recover.
Investigators said they found a small amount of what appeared to be heroin and drug paraphernalia in Stoen’s vehicle. According to police, Stoen said in a statement that he had used heroin before the accident but did not remember anything about it. He suffered minimal injury, police said. He was alone in the vehicle, police said.
He was charged with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence, causing great bodily harm; one count of aggravated DUI resulting in death; one count of reckless homicide and various other traffic and drug-related offenses, police said.
Police said his driving privileges in Illinois and Wisconsin are revoked because of DUI-related offenses. His next court date is Nov. 15.
In February 2011, Stoen was in a car stopped by Lake County Sheriff’s Police in Volo. Police at the time said a woman in the car was overdosing on heroin and Stoen was preparing to inject her with an adrenaline based narcotic used to counter the effects of overdoses.
A search turned up 12 bags of heroin, police said. Stoen and another man were charged with possession of heroin with intent to deliver. Stoen also was charged with impersonating a firefighter, after telling police that was how he was able to obtain the narcotic to counter the overdose. That proved to be a false statement, police said at the time.