Driver charged in pregnant woman’s hit-and-run death: Police

(WAUKEGAN, Ill.) — An Illinois driver was charged in the fatal hit-and-run of a pregnant woman as she crossed the street, according to the Waukegan Police Department.

Rosalinda Vaca, a 49-year-old resident of the Chicago satellite city, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with leaving the scene of a fatal accident after allegedly hitting 36-year-old Michelle Heidbrick with her car on Sunday, police said in a press release obtained by ABC News.

On Sunday evening, police responded to a report of a traffic crash and found a “female lying unresponsive in the westbound lanes of the street,” police said. They noted that they performed CPR on the victim until first responders arrived.

According to officials, the vehicle involved in the hit-and-run — a black 2016 Land Rover SUV — fled the scene without stopping.

The victim, identified as Heidbrick, was on a walk with her boyfriend and was crossing the street to return to her apartment when she was struck, her sister Nicole Heidbrick told ABC News.

Her boyfriend, who had his back turned at the time of the crash as he was walking to a nearby gas station, did not see Heidbrick get hit but “heard the impact,” Nicole Heidbrick said.

She was transported to a local hospital where she was “pronounced dead in the emergency room,” officials said.

Preliminary autopsy results indicate that Michelle Heidbrick “died from blunt force injuries as a result of the incident,” according to the Lake County Coroner’s Office.

On Tuesday, the driver, identified by authorities as Vaca, told police she was driving the black SUV at the time of the crash, officials said.

Vaca told authorities she “struck something in the roadway but didn’t realize what it was,” according to officials. She then “learned there was a report of a woman who was struck and killed in an accident,” police said.

“Rosalinda realized she was involved in the crash and decided to surrender to police,” officials said.

Her vehicle was located and is being “held for the ongoing investigation,” police said.

Vaca will make her first court appearance on Wednesday and will be held at the Lake County Jail, police confirmed to ABC News. It remains unclear whether Vaca has an attorney who can speak on her behalf.

Michelle Heidbrick, who was 22 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident, was the “goof of the family” who “lit up the room,” her sister told ABC News.

“If Michelle was there, you knew you were going to laugh about something,” Nicole Heidbrick told ABC News.

She said she is “relieved” that a suspect is in custody, but does not “understand why” Vaca did not stop after allegedly hitting her sister.

“I still don’t understand if you hit something that hard, why wouldn’t you at least stop to see what it was?” Nicole Heidbrick said.

Nicole Heidbrick hopes her sister, who was “the most generous person,” will be remembered “as the loving person that she was,” she told ABC News.

The victim leaves behind an 18-year-old son who had just started college, her sister said.

The family is still in the process of arranging the funeral, she noted.

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