Dixon man sued in death of 28-year-old killed ‘exiting’ his vehicle

DIXON – The mother of a 28-year-old who died when, police said, he “exited” a moving vehicle is suing the driver and the Dixon bar where he drank.

Sharese Sneed, of Aurora, mother of Yishmael Q. Sneed, 28, filed the wrongful death suit Thursday in Lee County Court.

Sneed was a passenger in a car driven by Derrick L. Flynn, 40, of Dixon, about 1:30 a.m. Sept. 24.

The two men got into a fight, and Sneed jumped or rolled from the westbound vehicle, which was in the 1200 block of Palmyra Road, police said.

According to the suit, however, he was thrown from the vehicle.

Sneed died of multiple blunt force injuries a short time later at KSB Hospital.

Before the incident, Flynn was drinking at Tipsy, 79 S. Hennepin Ave., and was served despite being “observably intoxicated,” according to the lawsuit. It does not say if Sneed was with him.

Among other things, Flynn was driving too fast for conditions, failed to stay in his own lane and failed to make sure Sneed was properly secured when he was thrown, according to the suit, which seeks damages in excess of $50,000 from each defendant.

Neither Tipsy, which is owned by Linda Burkitt of Dixon, nor Flynn had responded to the suit by Monday.

A progress call is set for Oct. 3.

Sharese Sneed is represented by Deutschman & Skafish of Chicago.

In relation to Sneed’s death, Flynn is charged with aggravated battery and obstructing justice (for refusing a blood draw at the hospital), both felonies, and with DUI and domestic battery, both misdemeanors.

Aggravated battery carries two to five years in prison, obstructing justice one to four years.

He was arrested that night, and posted $20,000 of $200,000 bond and was freed on Sept. 29.

He has a pretrial conference Tuesday.

According to Lee County Court records:

Flynn was sentenced March 11, 2010, to 2 ½ years of probation for aggravated battery.

On May 4, 2006, he was sentenced to a year of conditional discharge for theft, after violating the terms of his two-year probation in January 2004.

He was charged March 20, 2015, with two counts of domestic battery; those charges were dismissed that July 23.

On Aug. 21, 2006, he was charged with criminal defacement of property; that charge was dismissed that Oct. 16.