Victim recalls hit-and-run
John Koch, 31 of Chicago recalls “being in the air and thinking while I was in the air that I had been hit by a car. I felt my face scrape across the ground and I saw the car leaving.”
Koch and his brothers Fritz and Jake were about a block from Fritz’s apartment walking with friends when they were struck by a car at South Poplar and West College streets in Carbondale on Sunday around 2 a.m.
The driver of the car that hit them was identified as Dalevir S. Pannu, 21, who was driving a silver Ford Mustang. Pannu left the accident. His vehicle was located about 10 minutes later in the 800 block of west Freeman Street.
Pannu was charged with 10 counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing bodily harm, one count of accident causing injury or death, and five counts of aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm, all class 4 felonies. Pannu was in Carbondale attending medical conferences. He is a Canadian citizen and is enrolled in medical school in the Carribean.
Pannu is being represented by Paul Christenson, a Murphysboro attorney. Christenson said blood alcohol results have not been returned, and the allegation that Pannu was driving under the influence accounts for at least five of the 16 charges.
To read the full article click here
