Paige Donahue and her mother, Traci Palucci. Donahue was killed in a 2023 Wheaton hit-and-run accident. The driver was only issued a traffic citation in the accident, saying she had no knowledge she hit a person. (Provided photo)

Just minutes before reading her victim impact statement in her daughter’s fatal accident, Traci Palucci looked around a DuPage County courtroom.

“This is basically humiliating. We are in traffic court,” said Palucci, lamenting the fact that the driver in the accident only faced a citation and not criminal charges. “This is my only chance to get any justice.”

Palucci’s daughter, Paige Donahue, was killed in a 2023 hit-and-run accident in Wheaton. The DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office did not file criminal charges against the driver, Tarra Fiedler of Batavia, saying that Fielder had no knowledge that she struck a person.

Paige Donahue was a pedestrian crossing Roosevelt Road near Crest Street when she was struck and killed.

A 16-month investigation concluded in May with Wheaton detectives using advanced analysis of physical evidence left at the scene to identify the vehicle and driver in the accident.

Fiedler was found guilty of failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident with a pedestrian during her court appearance Friday. Her driver’s license will be suspended for one year. She was also sentenced to six months’ conditional discharge, 25 hours of community service and attending driver improvement school.

DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Alexander McGimpsey could have also imposed a fine of up to $1,000, but opted not to issue any fine.

“I wouldn’t wish for any mother to be here,” Palucci said in the opening on her victim impact statement before Fiedler’s sentencing. “I wouldn’t wish for Tarra to be here.”

Palucci said she cannot shake the image of her daughter being hit and left to die.

“How cold she must have been for eight fearful minutes dying on the street, bleeding out,” she said.

The Lombard resident said she has continual nightmares about her daughter’s death.

“I see her eyes and she pleads with me, ‘Mom, I’m so scared. Mom, I’m dying,’” she recounted.

Palucci also read a victim impact statement from her son, Trey, who said if Fiedler “hadn’t been so self-centered she would have turned back to see what she had hit.”

Trey noted that Fiedler knew she hit something because police said she eventually stopped and checked her car for damage.

“I am ashamed to live in a state where a person can run over someone and is only charged with a traffic violation,” Trey said in his statement.

Fighting back tears during her impact statement, Traci Palucci said she believes Fiedler knew she hit a person on that January 2023 night.

“You are standing behind your lawyer on your third continuance,” Palucci said just feet away from Fiedler. “I’m in traffic court. My daughter is dead and I’m in traffic court.”

She said any punishment Fiedler received would pale in comparison to “our life sentence.”

During a brief statement, Fielder expressed remorse for the accident.

“I feel for the family and for their loss,” she said.

Fiedler’s attorney, James M. Ryan, argued that his client should not lose her driving privileges.

“My client did not have knowledge that she struck a person,” Ryan said. “If she had known she struck someone, she would have stayed on the scene.

“This is a traffic ticket. I understand the tragic loss in the family … but this is a traffic ticket because it was a terrible accident. There were no criminal charges filed because it was a terrible traffic accident.”

Ryan, the son of the late Illinois Attorney General and DuPage County State’s Attorney Jim Ryan, said

that Fiedler has no criminal record and not even a checkered driving record.

He argued that with her husband wheelchair-bound with multiple sclerosis, Fiedler needs to be able to drive to transport her two children.

“She is the only person in the household who can drive them,” Ryan said.

He noted that the police investigation into the case revealed that the accident occurred on a dimly lit street and that there was no evidence of Fiedler traveling at an excessive speed.

“We all feel terrible for the family, at someone’s passing,” Ryan said, “but Tarra was not driving too fast. This is a petty traffic offense. She is not a dangerous driver.”

DuPage County Assistant State’s Attorney Lee Roupas argued for a $1,000 fine to also be imposed on Fiedler for the “horrific” accident.

Despite Fiedler losing driving privileges for a year, Traci Palucci said the court decision gave her little satisfaction.

“I am not going to be satisfied with what she has put us through,” Palucci said. “People need to know that if you run over someone all you have to do is say you had no knowledge you hit a person.”

She still feels the DuPage justice system turned its back on her family by not pursuing criminal charges against Fiedler.

Palucci said she will continue to fight to get Illinois law changed to give drivers in fatal hit-and-runs the lack of knowledge alibi.

“Not for one second do I believe she didn’t know she hit someone,” she said. “It’s very cowardly.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com