HINSDALE, IL – The village of Hinsdale is a customer of Fuller’s Car Wash, where an employee fatally struck a pedestrian with a car last year.
Residents, including the victim’s parents, contend the village did nothing after a series of crashes dating back to 2007.
Through a public records request, Patch found the village spent money each of the last four years at Fuller’s.
Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The total tab so far in 2024 is $1,099, about halfway through the budget year. The previous years were $2,817 in 2021, $1,825 in 2022 and $1,471 in 2023.
According to Fuller’s website, a full-service wash – inside and out – costs $40. If that’s the type the village gets, then the total is 27 washes so far this year.
Find out what's happening in Hinsdale-Clarendon Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Village Hall and the police station are both a couple of blocks away.
By doing business with the car wash, some village employees may have seen Fuller’s employees parking customers’ cars on the sidewalk, a violation of the village code.
In 1997, Hinsdale’s assistant village manager ordered the car wash not to park on the sidewalk, saying residents complained.
But the car wash kept doing so. Google Maps photos from 2007, 2012, 2019 and 2022 show that Fuller’s continually parked cars on the sidewalk.
At a Village Board meeting earlier this month, Village President Tom Cauley said Fuller’s owner was open to closing the car wash to settle the lawsuit filed by the family of Sean Patrick Richards. He was the 14-year-old boy who died last July after the Fuller’s worker struck him. He was walking on the sidewalk when the crash occurred.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.