Man charged with speeding through fatal crash site while police investigated, almost hitting cop with his car

A man has been accused of speeding through a fatal crash site in McHenry County as police were investigating and of nearly hitting an officer with his car, according to court records.

Andrew M. Franklin, 64, of Wood Dale was charged Thursday with aggravated assault to a police officer, a Class 4 felony, and obstructing a police officer, a Class A misdemeanor, according to court records, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

According to a criminal complaint, Franklin was driving a 1983 red Mercedes-Benz about 11:10 p.m. Sept. 27. Franklin allegedly drove his vehicle toward a police officer who had told him to stop, according to court records.

Franklin “drove ... directly at” a McHenry County sheriff’s deputy while “disregarding” the officer’s orders to stop the vehicle and causing the officer “to have to step out of the path of the vehicle to avoid being struck by the vehicle,” according to court documents.

Rather than stop his car when told to do so because he was entering the fatal crash scene, Franklin “continued driving through the scene of the crash, and ultimately fled from” the deputy, according to the complaint.

Court documents do not state the location of the crash scene in question. But about 20 minutes earlier on the same night, Austin Stanek, a 24-year-old Island Lake resident and Wauconda High School graduate, was walking along Roberts Road near Island Lake with a group of people when he was killed in what authorities described as a hit-and-run crash.

Police later said they had identified a car, a white SUV and a person of interest in the case in early October, but no charges so far have been announced.

Franklin is not accused of being the driver who hit Stanek. He could not be reached for comment.