$100,000 Exit Deal For Former Oak Lawn Village Manager Accused In Hit-And-Run
OAK LAWN, Ill. (CBS) -- Taxpayers in suburban Oak Lawn are on the hook for a $100,000 exit deal paid to the former village manager.
That village manager, Larry Deetjen, just resigned after getting charged in a hit-and-run crash.
As CBS 2 Political Reporter Dana Kozlov reported, village officials are defending the agreement. Trustees voted 5-1 to give Deetjen the exit package.
Deetjen's official separation agreement pays him $46,834.08 for his resignation, and an additional $53,067.90 for unused vacation time.
The figures add up to $99,901.08.
It is a total of almost $100,000 for Deetjen, who was slapped with three misdemeanors for hitting and critically injuring a man with his village car in Chicago Ridge back in October, and fleeing the scene.
Deetjen was charged with one count each of:
- Leaving the scene of an accident
- Failure to render aid
- Failure to give information after striking a person
- Failure to reduce speed/driving too fast for conditions
- Failure to exercise caution
The victim, Mark Berkshire, of Worth, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in critical condition. Berkshire's condition as of Thursday was not known.
Meanwhile, Oak Lawn's Interim Village Manager Randy Palmer says the agreement for Deetjen was really a business decision which honored the terms of Deetjen's employment contract with the Oak Lawn.
But it also pays his medical insurance for three months and his legal fees if sued. Palmer says because Deetjen was working for the Village at the time of the accident, that's standard procedure.
Deetjen, 70, also left the scene of another accident just a few years back, although no one was hurt in that incident.
In 2013, Palos Park Police found Deetjen's village-issued car "unoccupied" with "under carriage damage" after the car hit a cement block on Southwest Highway.
Trustees initially voted to put Deetjen on paid leave. He officially resigned last month, after being charged.
Oak Lawn's Interim Village Manager Randy Palmer says the agreement was really a business decision which honored the terms of Deetjen's employment contract with the Oak Lawn.
But it also pays his medical insurance for three months and his legal fees if sued. Palmer says because Deetjen was working for the Village at the time of the accident, that's standard procedure.
Deetjen's attorney, Michael Walsh, told Kozlov that neither he nor his client would be commenting Thursday.
No lawsuits have been filed yet in the hit-and-run.