‘Individual’ interviewed in fatal Lee County hit-and-run; no charges filed

DIXON – “An individual” who may have been involved in a fatal hit-and-run Monday in Walton contacted the department Tuesday to report that he or she was in a crash near that location, Lee County Sheriff Clay Whelan said in a news release Wednesday.

The caller’s 2014 Jeep was impounded and the driver was questioned, but the person’s name and gender have not yet been released, Whelan said in a follow-up phone call.

He declined to release any further information.

No arrest had been made, and no charges had been filed as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The caller may have struck and killed 40-year-old Patrick James Yocum, of Rock Falls, who was walking near the intersection of Sterling and Walton roads in Walton about 9:30 p.m. when he was hit.

Yocum was found in the middle of the road by a passerby and was pronounced dead at KSB Hospital in Dixon.

An autopsy was conducted Wednesday; the preliminary cause of death is blunt force trauma, Lee County Coroner Jesse Partington said, but the final result is pending the outcome of toxicology tests.

McDonald Funeral Home in Rock Falls will be handling arrangements, Partington said.