‘Enjoy prison life,’ Crystal Lake resident tells man accused of crashing into his house, paralyzing him

A man who said he was trying to kill himself when he started a fire in his father’s Lakewood home was sentenced Thursday to 10 years in prison for residential arson.

At the time of the 2023 fire, Connor Kirkpatrick was on pretrial release in a reckless driving case in which he was accused of driving his vehicle into a Crystal Lake home and leaving the homeowner paralyzed.

A jury found Kirkpatrick, 30, guilty in less than an hour in March of residential arson, a Class 1 felony. Kirkpatrick is required to serve half his prison time, McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis said.

Although Thursday’s hearing was for sentencing in only the arson case, prosecutors said that, aiming for a longer prison term, they mostly focused on the reckless driving incident, which was then dismissed.

Kirkpatrick had been charged with felony criminal damage, aggravated reckless driving and reckless conduct, according to documents in McHenry County court.

Prosecutors said that on July 27, 2022, Kirkpatrick, while naked and suicidal with just his Social Security card, drove his blue Subaru SUV almost 100 mph. The car went airborne, then crashed into the garage and the side of a Crystal Lake home.

Inside, Angelo Pleotis, 67, was just stepping out of the shower. From his motorized wheelchair Thursday, Pleotis spoke quietly as he recalled the last things he remembered. He had just come home from work and the gym and was getting ready to meet his girlfriend. He was going to invite her to his daughter’s wedding.

The impact of the crash sent him through the back wall of the bathroom and into another room. He woke the next day in a hospital in critical condition with a broken spine.

Since then, he has had several surgeries and infections and been in and out of rehabilitation facilities and hospitals. His home, where he lived with his brother, was sold as-is, and he now lives in a residential independent living facility in McHenry. He said he needs medical assistance “morning and night.”

Except for occasional spasms in his chest, he said he feels nothing from his chest down.

Pleotis said that before the crash, he had been planning for his retirement. He told the judge that he’d planned to buy some land and a boat and spend his days outdoors and fishing.

But now his time is spent in the wheelchair or in bed. He can’t spend time with his grandchildren or adult children like he used to, and he was unable to attend his daughter’s wedding. Instead, he watched it via livestream.

In court, Pleotis reflected on all that he’d worked for over the past 45 years that has been taken from him. He told Kirkpatrick: “Enjoy prison life. I’m sure you’ll meet some nice friends there.”

Regarding the arson case, prosecutors said that on May 20, 2023, while his father was on vacation, Kirkpatrick used gasoline and sticks to set his father’s home ablaze. At his trial, Kirkpatrick said he was trying to end his life due to the pain he suffered since crashing into Pleotis’ house.

Kirkpatrick’s attorney, William Bligh, referred to psychiatric evaluations and a doctor who said Kirkpatrick suffers from schizoaffective and bipolar disorders but was not being treated for his mental health.

“He lacks the ability to appreciate the criminality” of his actions, Bligh said.

Bligh reiterated to the judge that the purpose for the hearing was to sentence Kirkpatrick for the arson, not the crash. He conceded that the arson happened while Kirkpatrick was awaiting trial for the crash, but he said he still was considered innocent in the crash. Kirkpatrick was suicidal when he lit the fire, went to bed waiting to die and “was not in his right mind,” Bligh said.

Kirkpatrick’s mother, Natalie Kirkpatrick, tearfully asked Davis for leniency, asking that her son be sent not to prison but somewhere he can get help for his “serious mental illness.” She said he is intelligent and caring and suffers with a complex disorder that is “often misunderstood.”

“He is still reachable, still worthy, still here,” she said. “Please don’t sentence him to despair. Help him to return to himself.”

While Bligh asked for a minimum sentence of four years in prison, prosecutor Ashley Romito sought the maximum of 15. She said there is “no denying” Kirkpatrick suffers mental illness, but that “does not absolve him.”

He needs to go to prison for “the safety of the public,” Romito said. He was escalating in his actions. At the time he started the fire, he was out on bond after causing a “catastrophic injury to another human being.”

When given the opportunity to speak, Kirkpatrick rambled and apologized for the “state” he and Pleotis are in. Kirkpatrick also said it was “rude” that prosecutors were bringing in details of the crash at the sentencing hearing, saying that he believed he’d suffered a seizure when the crash occurred. He detailed his mental illness and pain from the injuries he suffered, described himself as “agreeable,” and admitted to starting the fire but said ”in no way, shape or form” did he try to hurt others.

In handing down the prison term, Davis said she believed Kirkpatrick intentionally started the fire, citing his own words that “I want to set everything on fire and watch it burn down.”

After Davis announced the sentence, Romito said, with agreement from Pleotis and his family who were present in the courtroom, that they would dismiss the reckless driving case. Romito said that was to spare the victim from further court proceedings.

Additionally, had he been found guilty in that case, under SAFE-T Act guidelines, the sentence would have run concurrently with the arson term, so he would not have received more prison time.

Kirkpatrick will receive credit for 814 days in the county jail. When released, he will serve one year of mandatory court supervision.