Man pleads not guilty to charges in hit-and-run

ST. CHARLES – A St. Charles Township man is pleading not guilty to felony charges in connection with a hit-and-run collision that severely injured a 7-year-old girl.

Brian Quartuccio, 42, entered the not guilty pleas July 11 during proceedings before 16th Circuit Judge D.J. Tegeler at the Kane County Judicial Center.

During the brief hearing, Tegeler outlined the charges and potential penalties for Quartuccio if he is convicted. The judge set Aug. 16 for the next hearing in the case.

The hit-and-run collision happened about 1 p.m. May 12 in the Valley View area of St. Charles Township.

Quartuccio was driving his black Dodge pickup truck on Geneva Avenue near the intersection with Courier Avenue when he struck Lexi Hanson, a second grader at Anderson Elementary School in St. Charles, who was riding her bicycle in the road, according to the Kane County Sheriff’s Office.

Hanson suffered several broken bones, a spinal injury and cuts and bruises in the collision. She was flown to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where remained for three days before returning home to continue her recovery.

Quartuccio turned himself in to police the day after the collision.

On June 26, a Kane County grand jury indicted Quartuccio on three felony counts.

The most serious, a Class 2 felony, charges that Quartuccio left the scene of an accident that resulted in an injury to another person. If convicted, he faces three to seven years in prison and fines of up to $25,000.

The other two counts are Class 4 felonies, charging Quartuccio with driving on a suspended license while being the cause of a personal injury accident, as well as driving after his license had been suspended or revoked.

Each of the Class 4 felonies is punishable by one to three years in prison and fines up to $25,000.

Quartuccio remains free on 10% of a $500,000 bond. After his arrest, Quartuccio spent about three weeks in Kane County Jail while his attorneys sought a bond reduction and his family worked to raise money for bail.

Tegeler eventually reduced the bond to $350,000 and Quartuccio was released after his family posted the required 10%. However, the judge soon put Quartuccio back in jail after a court services employee found Quartuccio outside of his home after an 8:30 p.m. curfew and increased the bond to the original $500,000.

Subsequently, the additional bail money was posted and Quartuccio was released.

In addition to the 8:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. curfew, Quartuccio must wear an alcohol-monitoring bracelet as a condition of his release.

Quartuccio has three drunken-driving convictions, has been charged with driving on a suspended license on six occasions and was already on probation in both Kane and DuPage counties for driving without a valid license before the May 12 accident.