A Western Springs woman has confirmed that a Jeep she owned that was involved in a crash at Fuller’s Car Wash in 2007 was not included in a review of incidents at the site at the May 21 Hinsdale Village Board meeting. Village President Tom Cauley discussed the accidents at that meeting after hearing from residents following the fatal crash that killed 14-year-old Sean Richards in July 2023.
Sean’s dad, Brian Richards, then attended the June 11 village board meeting to offer additional information following Cauley’s review. The first incident he discussed was the 2007 crash involving a Jeep owned by Diana Newlin.
“As it was exiting, a Fuller’s employee — who did not have his drivers license and was on his first day on the job — entered the vehicle and floored the accelerator, causing the car to fly out of the car wash bay, cross the sidewalk, jump the curb, cross Lincoln Street and crash into an oversized pickup truck parked in front of Fontano’s Subs, totaling both the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the pickup truck,” Brian Richards said at the meeting.
Newlin confirmed that account when she spoke to The Hinsdalean. Newlin, who had three children and was pregnant with twins at the time, said she had asked her nanny to take the Jeep to the car wash because she was about to trade it in for a larger Suburban. Newlin arrived on the scene shortly after the crash. She said the Fullers gave her a check for an amount within the realm of what she was going to get for it as a trade in. She said she responded to a Facebook post after Sean was killed to let the Richards family know her vehicle was involved in a similar incident.
The Hinsdalean filed a Freedom of Information Act request for any accident or call reports related to that incident. No records were found, according to the village’s response.
Hinsdale Police Chief Brian King said if the parties settled, there would be no accident report.
“The records we provided to President Cauley were accident reports that we were able to find,” he said. “Newlin’s incident wouldn’t have been part of that, because it was never documented on an accident report.”
Doug Fuller told the Hinsdalean his dad was the main owner in 2007, and he does not remember the incident. He said the first similar incident he remembers was in 2009, when Jeeps were experiencing unanticipated acceleration issues. At that time, employees began pushing Jeeps out of the wash bay as a precaution.
At the board meeting, Richards also questioned whether the January 2009 incident was fully investigated and had Lauri Aldrich, whose car was involved in a May 2022 collision, clarify the details of the crash her car was involved in.
“The issue is and the reason why those incidents are important are there is a pattern there,” Brian Richards told The Hinsdalean last week. “It’s clear to anybody who cares that there is a danger there. There is a threat to public safety that was not taken seriously by Fuller’s or the village.”
Sean’s mom Kristine Richards said she was not aware of cars exiting the car wash at high rates of speed and crossing the street.
“Had I known that, I wouldn’t have let Sean walk on that sidewalk,” she said. “When I learned of the previous incidents, the thought in my head was why were those allowed to happen?”
Fullers installed crash-rated bollards at the car wash in early August.
