David L. Mercer, 24, of the 1200 block of Poole Street is charged with leaving the scene of an accident, driving while license revoked and two counts of aggravated DUI.

One count of aggravated driving under the influence based on causing great bodily harm is an enhanced Class 4 felony punishable by one to 12 years in prison, said assistant state's attorney Jeff Hoecker.

The other charges, including a second aggravated DUI charge based on Mercer's prior reckless homicide conviction, are Class 4 felonies punishable by probation up to one to three years in prison.

Mercer, who is being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $250,000 bond, made his first court appearance Tuesday. The Sangamon County public defender's office was appointed to represent him, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Nov. 17.

Mercer is accused of running down and dragging Stanley J. Olbrias as he stood at the edge of his front yard in the 1100 block of North Stephen Avenue talking to a taxi van driver about 6:50 p.m. The taxi van driver had pulled alongside the yard and p.m. The taxi van driver had pulled alongside the yard and was facing north in the southbound lane.

Olbrias was taken to Memorial Medical Center, where he had been listed in critical condition. His condition was not being released Tuesday.

Authorities say Mercer was southbound in a 1995 Mercury Tracer and went around the taxi via Olbrias' yard, striking him and dragging him onto his neighbor's property. Olbrias' 12-year-old daughter was outside and witnessed the accident.

A man, a woman and a 12-year-old boy were in the Mercury with Mercer, and all ran from the car after it came back onto the street and stopped.

The man and the boy were found near Wanless Elementary School, 2120 E. Reservoir St. Mercer and the woman were found hiding in a van in a parking lot near a service station at 3001 Clear Lake Ave.

Mercer, who allegedly was the driver, is the only person charged in the incident.

Mercer pleaded guilty in 2000 to reckless homicide in connection with the death of his ex-girlfriend's prematurely born daughter and was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Mercer, who had just been released from the Sangamon County Jail the previous weekend, argued with his former girlfriend the evening of Feb. 15, 2000, and early the next day forced the woman into a Chevrolet Blazer and drove until 2:20 a.m., when the vehicle crashed into a concrete sign support on Illinois 29 just south of Dirksen Parkway.

Both Mercer, who had been drinking beer, and the woman were hospitalized with injuries, and because of the impact of the crash, doctors had to perform an emergency Cesarean section to deliver the woman's 1 1/2-pound baby girl 14 weeks prematurely.

The baby died April 19, 2000, of a blockage in her bowel while she was undergoing a blood transfusion in a St. Louis hospital.

Mercer, who was on two years' probation for a Jan. 27 burglary conviction and a 1999 misdemeanor theft conviction when the crash occurred, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence, unlawful restraint and reckless homicide of an unborn child.

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