Bloomington man sentenced to over 3 years in prison for 2022 stabbing

Normal Police Department squad cars are parked outside of an apartment building on July 29, 2022, following a stabbing report in the 1000 block of Charlotte Drive in Normal.

BLOOMINGTON — A Bloomington man was sentenced Monday to three and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to domestic battery in a stabbing reported last year in Normal.

Zhane O.T. McGill, 25, pleaded guilty to aggravated domestic battery, a Class 2 felony, before Judge William Yoder. McGill was initially charged with attempted murder, a Class X felony, and two Class 3 aggravated battery felonies, one involving a deadly weapon and the other for causing bodily harm. Those offenses were dismissed.

McGill

Normal police previously said officers responded to a reported stabbing on July 29, 2022, in the 1000 block of Charlotte Drive, where they found a 27-year-old man with a stab wound, and bruising around his neck. The victim was treated at a local hospital and released.

McGill was arrested in Oct. 2022 by Normal police, with assistance from the Bloomington Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.

He was sentenced Monday to three and half years in the Department of Corrections with credit for 320 days served, to be followed by four years of mandatory supervised release.

McGill's attorney William Gregory was not immediately available for comment Tuesday on the case outcome.

A police officer remarkably escaped injury Monday when a car careened across a highway at 120 mph while he conducted a traffic stop. Dashcam video of the crash released Tuesday by Fairfax County Police shows a black BMW sedan driven by a teenager coming within inches of the officer, who had gotten out of his patrol car to pull over a gray BMW for speeding. In the seconds before the crash, the black BMW can be seen skidding across a median on the Fairfax County Parkway near Braddock Road. It then strikes the car that had been pulled over and ricochets into the patrol car. The officer falls to the ground for a second, then quickly pops up to radio for help and check on injuries. Miraculously, no major injuries were reported, even though the black BMW had two teenage passengers in addition to the driver. All three in the black BMW were wearing seatbelts, police said. The driver of the black BMW was charged with reckless driving, a misdemeanor that can often result in jail time in Virginia. Police said the driver was 17 years old, and state law restricts them from identifying him or releasing any details about the crash that could be used to identify him.

Every year an estimated 70,000 pedestrians are hit by vehicles in the United States. But contrary to popular belief, car accidents involving pedestrians don't always result in deaths — many result in severe injury. For example, 6.8% of pedestrians hit by a car traveling 30 mph die, but 37% experience severe injury.

Given these possible outcomes, MoneyGeek analyzed pedestrian crash data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to help keep pedestrians and motorists safe on the road while highlighting the importance of auto insurance in a crash. Here's what the study found.

The study analyzed NHSTA data from 2015 to 2020 — the most recent years available — to learn more about the outcomes of pedestrian crashes.

Although most pedestrians survive a vehicle impact thanks to modern medicine, the rate of severe injury from car accidents is high, and these injuries can be life-altering. Even at a pedestrian accident speed of 25 mph, the study found a 31.9% chance of serious injury.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) defines a serious injury as any harm that is not fatal and results in one or more of the following:

As the table illustrates, the chances of severe injury or fatalities increase with increased speed. However, even those driving slowly — think 25 to 30 mph — still have about a 1 in 3 chance of severely injuring pedestrians in an accident. This risk underscores the importance of safe driving in the places we might take it most for granted, like school zones, neighborhoods and parking lots.

The analysis found that 48% of pedestrians were hit at intersections, and 49% of all intersection impacts occurred when vehicle speeds were between 0 and 10 mph.

Data shows that only 4% of these accidents result in death, versus the 18.4% mortality rate of pedestrians hit in other areas. Low mortality rates at intersections are likely related to the slow speed of vehicles there.

Although accidents at intersections are unlikely to kill pedestrians, it's important to remember that even low-speed crashes can result in severe injury.

Since the chance of being hit by a car is greater at intersections, it's important for pedestrians to avoid jaywalking and choose crosswalks instead.

By the same token, drivers must take extra precautions and keep these statistics in mind when approaching an intersection. Because accidents do happen, it's essential for drivers to have proper liability car insurance coverage for their protection and the well-being of everyone on the road. While minimum requirements vary from state to state, insufficient coverage can leave drivers with thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket expenses, lost-income lawsuits or even bankruptcy.

The study utilized logistic regression to analyze the effect of different variables on the outcome of a crash that involved a vehicle and a pedestrian — including vehicle body types.

The analysis showed that larger vehicles and commercial vehicles with special licensing requirements are the deadliest. When driven at a speed of 45 mph, the chance of being killed by a bus, semi-truck or other heavy vehicle is 42.1%.

In contrast, at an everyday speed of 30 mph, popular family automobiles such as SUVs, pickup trucks and minivans have a crash mortality rate of 10.4%; a sedan driving at the same speed has a mortality rate of 6.8%. While accidents involving these vehicles are comparatively less deadly to pedestrians than larger commercial vehicles, they can still result in deaths at pretty low speeds.

This data serves as a further reminder that drivers must stay alert and aware, even during casual trips to the grocery store or kids' soccer practice — especially in neighborhoods and areas with a lot of foot traffic. When choosing where to walk or go on a run, pedestrians would do well to take note of the types of vehicles that frequent those roads.

The analysis found a direct correlation between vehicle speed and pedestrian mortality rate. While getting hit by a car going 15 mph only carries a 1.8% chance of death, getting hit by a car going 70 mph increases the mortality rate to 75.3%.

Most people know that driving at high speeds is dangerous, but even they may be surprised that relatively average speeds can result in pedestrian deaths.

At 40 mph, what percentage of pedestrians survive? According to the study, 84.3%. While the chance of survival sounds high, it's important to keep in mind that the severe injury rate at this speed is 42.9%, for a combined acute injury and fatality rate of 58.6%.

Despite the likelihood that most pedestrians struck by vehicles will survive, fatal accidents can and do happen. Indeed, the Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that, in 2021, 7,485 pedestrians were killed in crashes involving vehicles across cities in the U.S. — an average of 20 fatalities per day.

Drivers and pedestrians all have a responsibility to keep our roads safe: this is a simple concept, but one that makes the roads safer for everyone involved. The following are some suggestions on what drivers and pedestrians can do to keep roads safe and ultimately prevent accidents:

For increased safety on the road, the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued a safe driver checklist that can help motorists prepare before and during their journey. Keeping in mind that accidents happen from time to time, it's important to also know how to handle the aftermath of a car accident and stay safe after a crash.

The study reviewed 3,429 instances where pedestrians were hit by vehicles as reported in the NHTSA's Crash Report Sampling System (CRSS) from 2016 to 2020, the latest five years of data available.

To develop mortality rate curves, the study utilized a logistic regression fit to 3,429 events where the dependent variable was whether the pedestrian died or not. Independent variables for the model were vehicle speed, pedestrian age, a flag for light trucks (inclusive of SUVs and minivans) and a flag for heavy vehicles.

The model was found to be statistically significant using the log-likelihood ratio test. The coefficients of the independent variables were found to be statistically significant as follows.

Additionally, the study developed a regression model with the dependent variable being a binary flag for either severe injury or fatality.

The results of these models were then used to produce fatality probability estimates for different speeds, ages and body types.

All pedestrian fatality rates assume a 40-year-old pedestrian.

This story was produced by MoneyGeek and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.

Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison

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