Some Chicago, Illinois, roads get extremely busy, so it is no surprise that there are periodic car accidents in Chicago and surrounding areas. Some of those accidents can involve serious injuries and wrongful death. A particularly shocking accident occurred in the community of Beecher last month.
The accident took the lives of a pregnant woman, the baby and her other children. The woman was very active in her church, and was driving her family to a Bible camp in a 2014 Subaru Outback. Unfortunately, a man driving a 2002 Chevrolet S10 pickup truck, blew past a stop sign located at Corning Road and Yates Avenue and hit the woman’s vehicle. He was going about 20 mph over the posted speed limit at the time.
The crash’s deadly effects were apparent immediately, with the woman and her 19-month-old son both being pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Her 4-year-old son died in the hospital the following evening, and her 6-year-old son died in the hospital two days later. All of the deaths were directly caused by the injuries that the family members suffered in the accident, which happened despite the fact that they were all wearing safety belts at the time.
The man who drove the pickup truck into the family’s vehicle, causing their deaths, reportedly only needed minor surgery. That surgery was for a large laceration on his arm. He was first given a traffic citation due to allegedly disregarding the stop sign, but prosecutors dismissed that in order to clear the way for more serious charges.
They have now filed felony charges against the man after spending almost a month building their case. The charges were filed under theories of an applicable reckless homicide statute. The contention that prosecutors are making is that the man’s reckless acts, including speeding and ignoring the stop sign, directly led to the deaths of the woman, her unborn baby and her three born children.
Source: Chicago Tribune, “Beecher man charged in crash that killed mother, 3 children,” Zac Koeske, Aug. 22, 2017