After allegedly starting a fistfight during a pickup basketball game at the Hammond Family YMCA, Ronald A. Whitt’s two sons, aged 16 and 13, ran back to his minivan.
They told him the others were going to get a gun. Authorities allege he responded by hitting two others with his van in a nearby church parking lot. Whitt told cops his “untied boots” got stuck on the gas.
Whitt, 38, of Lynwood, Ill., was charged July 3 with several felonies, including three counts of Level 5 felony battery. He posted a $6,000 cash bond on Monday.
Hammond Police responded at 7:11 p.m. July 1 to the neighboring Woodmar United Methodist Church, 7320 Northcote Ave. YMCA employees were tending to one male lying on the ground. He later needed a neck brace at the hospital. He said he saw the van pull up, then woke up in an ambulance.
Witnesses said Whitt’s sons were “trading words” during the game. One son punched a 17-year-old boy, Victim 1, before the brawl happened. Once the fistfight died down, the sons ran to Whitt’s minivan on the south end of the facility.
The Kia minivan struck two people — the male later found on the ground and Victim 1 as they walked across the church parking lot.
“They came out and was trying to fight my babies, and they were running off and I was trying to go around them and I hit him, and I didn’t do it on purpose,” Whitt said later to one officer, according to body cam footage.
The sons told cops that Victim 1 had a gun. Officers found nothing.
One witness said he heard Whitt “rev” the engine as he drove into the other lot. Several witnesses also said they felt Whitt hit the victims on purpose, making little effort to swerve away or slow down.
One witness said they saw the sons run up to Whitt.
“He hit me, he puts (sic) his hands on me,” one boy said.
“Oh no, don’t let them do that,” Whitt responded.
“Go over there and beat their (expletive),” the son’s mother, standing outside the van, allegedly said.
Police obtained a cell phone video and church security footage showing the impact, then Whitt pulling off.
Both victims crossed the church parking lot when Whitt allegedly hit Victim 1, who tried to get out of the way. Whitt then turned and hit the other male head-on. He flew over the van’s front end. One of his shoes flies in the air, according to court records.
Whitt is charged with battery resulting in serious bodily injury, two counts of battery by means of a deadly weapon, two counts of criminal recklessness, and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury.
mcolias@post-trib.com
