Hit-and-Run Senior Spared General Jail Population

Goone is still in the hospital.

The 18-year-old New Trier High School student who allegedly ran down a 16-year-old and drove away will be kept away from the general jail population as she awaits her next court date.

Erin Hughes arrived at the Cook County Jail around 7 p.m. Monday.  Cook County Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Patterson said Hughes would be kept at Cermak Hospital on the jail grounds.

Meanwhile, dozens of friends turned up at Temple Beth Israel in Skokie for a prayer service for Sarah Goone. 

Goone was leaving an after-school activity when she was hit near the intersection of Greenbay Road at Winnetka Avenue at about 3:15 p.m. Friday.  She was taken to Evanston Hospital in critical condition and underwent surgery for bleeding in her head, according to her grandfather.

Goone's parents did not attend Monday's service, but sent a statement they wanted shared with those that gathered.

"Words cannot adequately express our gratitude for your support, thoughts, messages and prayers," it said, in part.

At a court appearance earlier in the day, Hughes admitted to prosecutors that she had smoked marijuana the day before the accident.  Hearing that, Judge Marcia B. Orr ordered her held on $500,000 bond pending the results of a toxicology report.

"I really want to get info on blood and urine tests before I make final a decision because I think it's very important," she said.

Outside the courtroom, Hughes' attorney Jack Levin called his client a "north shore" girl, and said the family was disappointed and worried about the fact that she was headed to the Cook County Jail.

Levin also said the family had missed a mortgage payment and did not have the money to post the 10 percent needed to secure her release.

Hughes told investigators she was headed to the 7-Eleven to hang out with friends and kill time when the accident occurred.

She has been charged with failure to report an accident involving injury, failure to exercise due care, and failure to render aid in the accident, the Sun-Times reported.

Goone's family members have created a web site that delivers updates on the teen's progress.

Goone's grandfather, Lowell Goone, said the family is now just waiting and hoping for a good recovery.  He described Sarah as "very artistic" and "loved by everybody."

"She's just a great girl," he said.

Sarah, who's involved in theater and orchestra at the school, was slated to appear in a play there on Saturday.  

Hughes' next court date has been scheduled for May 20.

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