Manhattan trustee sued over fatal 2010 wreck
BY JON SEIDEL Sun-Times Media jseidel@suntimes.com July 13, 2012 8:07PM
Manhattan Trustee Mike Naughton has been sued for driving into and killing a young couple on U.S. 52 early one morning in July 2010.
Two lawsuits have been filed in Will County against Naughton in the last three weeks. Vanessa Logan and Shadondra Wright sued late last month as special administrators of the estates of Yolanda Logan and Anthony Neal, respectively.
Tachica Williams filed another complaint Thursday also claiming to be special administrator of Neal’s estate.
Naughton declined to comment Friday, and the attorneys who filed the complaints did not return calls. But in 2010 Naughton said he was shocked when he hit Logan and Neal, a couple believed to have been arguing in the road.
“I never knew they were there until I hit them,” Naughton said at the time.
Neal, 28, of Kankakee and Logan, 23, of Bourbonnais were standing outside their vehicle in the westbound lane of U.S. 52 in the early morning hours of July 23, 2010, when Naughton hit them with his full-size Dodge van, police said.
Naughton said he was driving home from The Ohio State University with his son. His van was on cruise control, and he was heading west at 55 mph near Wallingford Road in Wilton Center.
That’s when he saw the headlights of the couple’s eastbound vehicle, stopped half in the road and half on the shoulder.
“There was nothing I could do,” Naughton said. “There was nothing I could have done to avoid hitting them.”
Naughton’s son called 911. Police said alcohol was not involved, Naughton cooperated, they said, and no criminal charges or tickets were issued.
