Family sues after sheriff's van hits man

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Nearly five months after her son was hit by a Marion County Sheriff's Department van , a mother is still looking for answers.

Charles Hill, 38, a father of three, is still recovering from a traumatic brain injury after last fall's accident. The day after Thanksgiving, he was walking his 10-year-old daughter home from the park when a deputy driving a MCSD vehicle hit him, critically injuring him. The family said it hasn't heard a word from the county, and now it has filed a lawsuit.

Hill is relearning how to do everyday tasks, something that’s hard for a mother, Barbara, to watch, she said in an exclusive interview with 24-Hour News 8.

“I found myself just crying. It really is just very hard,” she said. “We're expecting him to be restored, to be able to walk, and his speech is doing better, and hopefully maybe we will be able to restore the movement and flexibility in his hands.”

Medical bills are well into the hundreds of thousands, and they continue to rise. Hill is recuperating at an Illinois rehab facility. The family said after months of no response from government officials regarding the crash, they filed a lawsuit.

“Around the 90-day mark we contacted the city and said, 'Hey, listen. We sent you the tort claim notice. By statute we need you to respond. What are your plans on that? What are your thoughts?' And we got nothing,”  family attorney Jason May said.

Now the county has about 30 days to respond before civil litigation begins. The Hills’ attorneys said they want to know what happened the night of Nov. 25.

“We know from Macy what she and Charles were doing, but we don't know what was happening with the sheriff's van and how Charles wasn't seen and for what reason this wasn't avoided. We want to know why, frankly, what is the excuse for hitting him,” family attorney Sam Krahulik said.

The attorneys said they even went so far as to write a letter to the county but again heard nothing.

The county's attorneys told 24-Hour News 8 it's not unusual not to get a response when a claim is filed. They said a lack of response means they've denied the claim. They wouldn't discuss specifics of the lawsuit.

As for the Deputy Erich Gephart, who was driving the van that hit Hill, he was put on administrative leave at the time of the crash, but he's been back on the job since February.