A Will County Board member was issued a traffic citation involving an accident with a child on a bicycle, according to a Bolingbrook police report.
Jacqueline Traynere, the past Democratic Leader from Bolingbrook, was involved in the accident about 8:15 a.m. March 11 at the intersection of Lily Cache and Lindsey lanes in Bolingbrook, a police report said.
Traynere was issued a citation for failure to yield in a crosswalk.
The child was riding a bike east on the sidewalk near Lily Cache and Lindsey lanes and entered the crosswallk while the southbound traffic was stopped, according to the report. The child told officers he thought the crosswalk light was illuminated, indicating it was safe to cross, before entering the crosswalk.
As the bicyclist was crossing the street, a blue car allegedly driven by Traynere pulled forward and struck him on the left side, the police report said.
The child fell off the bike and was uninjured, the report said.
Paramedics arrived, but the child did not go to the hospital, the report said. The bike chain was damaged in the accident.
The Western Will County Communications Center told police they received an accident report in which the driver left the scene. A witness who was stopped in traffic at the intersection called the dispatch center and provided the license plate for the car.
The witness told police she observed the driver of the car check on the child but then drive east on Lily Cache Lane, according to the police report.
Traynere had driven to the police station when officers arrived to the accident scene, the report said.
Traynere told police she was waiting to turn left and began making the turn when the arrow turned green. She said she saw a child fall off a bike, but she did not know if she had hit him, the report said.
“She stated she got out to make sure (the bicyclist) was OK, but did not know what to do, so she left. Then she decided to come to the police station. While discussing the incident, she indicated that she might have struck (the bicyclist) but was unsure,” the report states.
The car allegedly driven by Traynere was in the Police Department parking lot and showed damage, according to the report.
“It had a half-circle scratch on the hood, all the dust near that scratch had been rubbed off as if something rubbed on the hood, and there were apparent hand/finger prints in the dust on the hood near the scratch,” the report said.
The damage was not on the vehicle before the accident, Traynere told police, according to the report.
Traynere on Tuesday referred questions to her attorney, Joe Giamanco, who responded in an email that he is limited in what can be said because the matter is pending.
“The incident at issue has been taken dramatically out of context and is being used in a transparent attempt to score political points rather than for any legitimate purpose,” Giamanco said in the email.
“One version I heard early on — from an elected official — was that the minor was ‘run over’ and that Ms. Traynere never stopped her vehicle; such statements are patently false and defamatory,” he said.
“As the matter is currently pending, we are limited in what we can say. However, Ms. Traynere contests the single citation she received for allegedly failing to yield to a pedestrian. We look forward to resolving this matter in a court of law — not in the court of public opinion.”
Traynere has been on the Will County Board since 2008 was Democratic Leader from 2022 to 2024.
Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.