Records connect 2006 reckless driving charge with fatal hit-and-run of Godfrey toddler
Investigators believe the man charged in connection with the fatal hit-and-run of a 2-year-old Godfrey girl is same man who pleaded guilty to aggravated reckless driving after hitting a pedestrian in Grafton 14 years ago.
Paul E. Broadway, 62, of Alton was charged on Tuesday with failure to report an accident involving personal injury or death. He’s accused of fatally hitting Ellee Grace Kiser, who had run after her dog, which also was fatally hit by the pickup truck on Monday afternoon.
Jersey County court records show that a Paul E. Broadway was charged with three offenses in 2006 and he pleaded guilty to aggravated reckless driving in 2007 for hitting a pedestrian in Grafton. The two charges that were dropped were failure to yield to pedestrian at crosswalk and illegal transportation of alcohol by driver.
Madison County Sheriff’s Office Capt. David Vucich said based on the identical date of birth and name connections, he believes in “good faith” the man charged in the Jersey County case is the same man charged in the Madison County case this week.
In the Madison County hit-and-run case, Broadway briefly stopped his vehicle after Ellee and her dog were struck but then he left the scene, according to Sheriff John Lakin.
Broadway was arrested Monday night in Alton after a motorist told police he may be behind the pickup truck they were looking for in connection with Ellee’s death.
“It was reported to us Ellee, the 2-year-old girl, was playing in her yard and the family pet started running toward the street, West Delmar, and the offending vehicle struck the dog and then Ellee,” Lakin said during a news conference on Tuesday. “It’s such a tragedy.”
Broadway was arrested more than two hours after Ellee had been struck. State law calls for motorists to report an accident involving an injury or death within 30 minutes.
In the Jersey County case, a man was struck by a 1999 GMC truck while he was crossing Illinois 100 in Grafton while in a crosswalk on Oct. 7, 2006. The driver, identified as Paul E. Broadway, was driving in excess of the speed limit, according to the aggravated reckless driving charge.
The man struck by the truck in Grafton was thrown 55 feet from the crosswalk and suffered “great bodily harm,” according to court records.
A sentence of two years of probation was handed down in January 2007 in this Jersey County case.
Broadway was being held in the Madison County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $100,000 bond in connection with Ellee Kaiser’s death. Madison County court records do not list an attorney representing Broadway.
