Peoria Standard

John Timothy Jr., 41, was sentenced to the maximum term of 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a hit-and-run incident that resulted in the death of 28-year-old Akeem Alexander. The sentencing took place in Peoria on October 31, following a conviction by a Peoria County jury in July for Leaving the Scene of a Motor Vehicle Accident Involving a Death.

During the sentencing hearing, Alexander’s brother addressed the court, describing the severity of the crash. He said his brother was thrown 254 feet, which he compared to "the length of six school buses." He told the court: “This isn’t just a crash. It’s a crash plus abandonment.” He called on the court to set an example: "if you take a life and leave, there are real consequences."

The judge agreed with these remarks and acknowledged the pain experienced by Alexander's family.

The incident occurred around 3:30 a.m. in August 2023 when authorities received an alert from Timothy’s Land Rover about a crash on W. Howett Street. Responding officers found Alexander deceased near his bicycle at the scene; however, Timothy and his vehicle were not present.

Police later located Timothy’s Land Rover with significant front-end damage on Antoinette Street. Surveillance footage showed Timothy leaving a club shortly before the collision, running a red light at high speed before striking Alexander and fleeing.

In other developments within Peoria County schools during the same period, data from local education authorities show that Peoria High School had the highest enrollment of Black students among county schools in 2022-23 with 798 students (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx). The average student-to-teacher ratio across all schools was reported as 15-to-1 (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx), while teacher absenteeism stood at 32.3%, below Illinois’ state average (https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Home.aspx).