CARBONDALE - The early Saturday morning car-pedestrian crash that authorities say was a case of hit-and-run has left several lives in tangles.

The accident came about 2 a.m. Sunday at South Poplar and West College streets.

"I heard the bodies hitting the car, mine included," said John Koch, 31, of Chicago. "I remember being in the air and thinking while I was in the air that I had been hit by a car. I felt my face scrape across the ground, and then I saw the car leaving."

Koch his brothers, Fritz and Jake, were about a block from Fritz's apartment.

The brothers were walking with others, including accident victims Sydney K. Rollinson, 20, of Carbondale; Laura A. Gilbert, 44, of Carbondale, and Jade T. Swisher, 21, of Newton.

"There were probably about 15 people coming across the street," John Koch said. "I saw the car two blocks up. I figured since it was bar time and since it was two blocks away that we had time to cross. … With the speed limit, we should have had time to cross."

But the group did not get off the road before a silver Ford Mustang driven south on Poplar by Dalevir S. Pannu, 21, hit four people and narrowly missed others.

"After I got hit, I immediately stood up and I said out loud that I didn't want to get hit by another car. I moved past the sidewalk to the grass and sat down."

With cuts to the face and hands, John was taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale by friends but was not admitted.

Two days later, he returned to Chicago and visited a hospital there, where he was diagnosed with a broken leg.

Swisher, Rollinson, and Gilbert were transported to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale by ambulance.

Witnesses alerted authorities quickly. About 10 minutes later, Pannu's unoccupied vehicle was located in the 800 block of West Freeman Street, police said.

Further investigation led police to Pannu, and he was charged with 10 counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing bodily harm, one count of accident causing injury or death, and five counts of aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm, all class 4 felonies.

Jackson County Court records show a public defender was appointed for Pannu this week and a bond was set at $150,000.

Paul Christenson, a Murphysboro attorney, is representing Pannu. He called the incident a "tragic accident."

"We don't have enough information about this ourselves," he said. "I've been asking for the police reports to gather what it was that happened. I know people were injured, and I know it was an accident. Exactly what caused this accident is unknown."

Christenson said blood alcohol results have not been returned, and the allegation that Pannu was driving under the influence accounts for at least five of the 16 charges.

The attorney said Pannu is a Canadian citizen and currently enrolled in medical school in the Caribbean. Medical conferences being held at a Carbondale hotel brought him to Southern Illinois.

"He's not an SIU student," Christenson said. "He has been here since Sept. 9. The school he attends is seven years long, and he has completed part of it. He's a medical student and a very decent human being and he is in the Jackson County Jail."

Pannu is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 7.

tara.fasol@thesouthern.com/351-5824