Letters Sent

December 17, 1980 - June 13, 1999

Email: JimAgema@gmail.com

The following are letters (e-mail) sent to Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, Gov. George Ryan, Rep. Tom Cross, and other local & State law makers.

This message was sent to: Rep. J. Dennis Hastert

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Copy of message text follows:

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This is to inform our law makers and representatives that there is a serious problem involving head-on collisions in this State. My 18 yr old son was killed on June 12th, 1999 by another driver crossing the center line on Wolf Rd. In Oswego. The other driver refused to take a blood test and subsequently has only a 6 month driver's license suspension and a traffic ticket for improper lane usage. Meanwhile, we have a dead son, and questions as to why the other driver was never tested for substance abuse. This should be made mandatory in accidents of this nature. More info can be seen along with pictures of the car and police reconstruction drawing on a website at: http:///agema.net/Bryan/home.html

Your consideration of changes in laws to correct this lack of follow-up on accidents of this nature would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Jim & Sandy Agema

(Address and phone# withheld)

This is a follow-up letter explaining more detail of the circumstances surrounding this incident and a reply to a very nice letter from Rep. J. Dennis Hastert. Copies of this reply have been e-mailed to Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Rep. Tom Cross.

Thank you for the reply letter concerning the death of my son Bryan Agema in a head-on crash. (June 12th, 1999 on Wolf Rd outside of Oswego) I also appreciate the fact that you did contact Sheriff Randle of the Kendall County Sheriff's office in regards to this incident.

However, I have the feeling that they (the sheriff's office) may still be disregarding a lot of the facts of this incident. The 24 year old man that hit our son was out driving his father's pickup truck at 2:00 am and nobody seems to know where he was coming from and what he had been doing till then. It is established that he has a day job so was not traveling to or from work. My son had just gotten off work in Plano an hour or less earlier (Menard's late shift) and had picked up a couple friends who work late shift at Pizza Hut and decided to have a Mountain Dew and a cigarette while they took a ride and chatted.

At the scene of the accident, when the Sheriff Deputies arrived, the 24 year-old told them that his brother was driving the truck and had left the scene of the accident. It was later established as a complete lie and he was subsequently charged with obstruction of justice. The fact that he lied about who was driving leads one to believe he had something to hide and was acting in a very suspicious manner.

At the hospital, we were told by the Sheriff's Deputy that the driver of the other vehicle would most likely be going to the County Sheriff's office when he left the hospital that morning. We were also told that the State of Illinois Accident Investigation Unit would be going over the accident scene and doing a reconstruct. This never happened and they finally got an Oswego Officer to do the report, which we were not impressed with. We later learned that the other driver was released to his parents directly from the hospital and never taken in for questioning. The Deputy later told me that they didn't take a blood sample as he refused. I questioned why this was allowed when there was suspicion as to his actions and cause of the accident. I was told that they were hoping he would pass out and then they could take a sample without his consent, which evidently, never happened. I was told by some of the other law enforcement agencies that a court order could have, and probably should have been issued in this instance considering the circumstances. This raises great concern on my part that given the obstruction of justice and the refusal of a blood test, why there was not a court order obtained to protect our rights as well as his. If he had nothing to hide, and fell asleep at the wheel as he claims, why not prove it? I feel that there is a large loophole in our traffic laws that is allowing people on drugs and/or alcohol to cause this type of incident and walk away free. We desperately need to look at this type of incident and make a blood test mandatory in situations like this.

I appreciate your involvement and will try to contact other law makers to see if something can be done to enact this into law. If you would be so kind as to possibly forward this letter to Governor Ryan's office also, I would appreciate it. Sometimes it means more if it comes from someone in the system.

My thanks for your cooperation in this matter.

Jim & Sandy Agema

(Address and phone# withheld)

Original letter:

Copies of the reply letter have been e-mailed to Illinois Gov. George Ryan and Rep. Tom Cross. It has been a couple months and we have not received a reply as of April 9th, 2000. We can only hope that they are investigating this incident and seeing how they may change the laws in this state to reflect a better form of justice for the victims and their families when this type of accident occurs.

Additional Info: Tom Cross did answer our letter and had talked with other State officials. I talked personally with Rep. Tom Cross and he stated that he, with some of his assistants, were working on submitting legislation to toughen the laws and penalties for these types of accidents.