Posted on January 29, 2013 in Car Accidents

A female student from the Northern Illinois Academy ran out to the road during the afternoon of Monday January 21^st.  The Academy is a residence and school for the mentally challenged located in Aurora at 988 Corporate Blvd.  Theresa M. Burns and an unnamed male staff member found the girl sitting in the middle of the road.

Theresa Burns was a well-respected staff member at the Academy although she had only been working there for a year.  She had formal training to work with mentally challenged individuals during moments of emotional crisis.  Burns, 57, of the 700 block of South River Road in Des Plaines, successfully moved the student out of harm’s way.

Unfortunately, both she and the other staff member were hit by a car while in the southbound lane of Church Road near the school.  A 1997 Chevrolet GEO Metro ran over and killed Burns and hurt the other staff member after 5:30 pm.  The staffer is a 25-year-old from Plainfield was hospitalized for non-life threatening injuries.

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 Posted on January 15, 2013 in Car Accidents

Cell phone use while driving is the target of two new Illinois laws that went into effect January 1^st. The goal of the new laws is to reduce the increasing number of fatalities that are occurring because drivers are too distracted by talking and texting, taking attention away from the road.

House Bill 5101 prohibits texting or using a hand-held cell phone while driving a commercial motor vehicle. Prior to the new law, texting was prohibited, but cell phone use was allowed. The new bill means that a driver behind the wheel of a commercial motor vehicle with cell phone in hand faces serious motor vehicle violations.

The definition of a commercial vehicle includes a vehicle used in commerce with a weight of 26001 lbs or more, a vehicle designed to transport 16 or more people, or a vehicle transporting hazardous materials.  Exceptions are RVs for personal use, military vehicles, fire trucks, police vehicles and other emergency response vehicles.

Senate Bill 2488 prohibits cell phone use in construction zones or maintenance zones, no matter what the speed limit posted for those areas are. Drivers are allowed to use cell phones in voice-operated mode, which includes the use of a headset or cell phones used with single button activation.

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 Posted on December 22, 2012 in Boating Accidents

The family of a 10-year-old boy who died after he was run over by a boat has filed a lawsuit against the boater and a passenger. The family says the two were recklessly partying before the crash that took the boy's life. The Chicago Tribune reported a story on the case.

According to the family of victim, Tony Borcia, the powerboat Purple Haze was going fast enough that its bow was lifted off the water, making it impossible for the driver, David Hatyina, too see where he was going.

Hatyina, 51, faces charges of reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, according to prosecutors. The passenger is mentioned in the suit, but she is likely to not be charged with anything.

The family's attorney said that on waterways, right of way is given to the one approaching on the right, which, in this case, was Tony's father. He was towing two of his children on an inner tube when the 29-foot Baja outlaw failed to yield and hit the boy.

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 Posted on November 28, 2012 in Car Accidents

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has announced that a recent study has shown that drivers who suffer from advanced glaucoma have twice as many accidents as drivers with normal vision. Glaucoma, which affects more than 2.7 million Americans age 40 and older, is an eye disease that affects the peripheral vision. Fluid pressure builds within the eye and can cause blindness if left untreated.

According to a report in Science Daily, the study was conducted by the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, located in Sendai, Japan. The researchers studied two groups, each group comprised of 36 people. One group had advanced glaucoma; the other group members had normal vision. Age, driving experience and characteristics were matched group to group. Using a driving simulator, the study found the most ‘accidents’ occurred for both groups when an object or person entered the driver’s path from the side. However, the glaucoma group had twice as many ‘collisions’ as the other group.

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 Posted on November 13, 2012 in Personal Injury

A reckless Chicago driver committed an unusual hit-and-run, when he narrowly missed a 68-year-old man but hit his dog instead. The 28-year-old driver, who did not have a valid driver's license, barely managed to avoid hitting Thomas Anderson in his inebriated attempt at driving a vehicle. The Chicago Tribune reported a story on the incident.

Hector De Anda Martinez, 28, already appeared in court for his indiscretion. Martinez was charged with felony aggravated DUI and cited for not having a valid driver's license or insurance, according to police. His outstanding driving skills almost brought him another charge for striking a man with his vehicle, but he managed to avoid the man, only to hit his 10-year-old dog instead.

Thomas Anderson, a 68-year-old radiologist, said he feared for his as if it were one of his four children. He was walking his two dogs and crossing the street as usual, when he had a green light, when Martinez ran a red light and drove directly towards Anderson and his dogs. Anderson said he jumped out of the way and got one dog out of the way, but the older dog got hit.

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 Posted on October 31, 2012 in Car Accidents

Karli Casey, 19, hospitalized herself and four others in an April 28 crash in Palatine. An 84-year-old victim of the crash still remains hospitalized, Assistant State's Attorney Mike Gerber said. The Chicago Tribune reported a story about the crash and Casey's court case.

Casey's bloodwork showed heroin, codeine, and cocaine after the crash. The prosecutors also said she inhaled an aerosol cleaning product before the crash. Casey's charges have been upgraded to aggravated DUI, but the story does not report any civil charges from the people injured in the crash.

The accident allegedly took place when Casey inhaled the cleaning product, causing her to pass out behind the wheel. Another teen driver had killed a 5-year-old in a crash with similar features, according to the Tribune. In the other mentioned crash, an 18-year-old woman backed her car over a family, killing a 5-year-old girl. The driver was said to have inhaled a similar compound as Casey.

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 Posted on October 09, 2012 in Criminal Law

The Chicago Tribune reports that the driver in the fatal car crash that killed seventeen year old Julie Gorczynski has been sentenced to six months behind bars. The case gained national attention when its proceedings prompted harsher penalties for speeders in Illinois. “Julie’s Law” went into effect on July 1, 2012.

The fatal accident that took place last year was one in a long line of speeding offences for the driver. He is reported to have been travelling at a speed that was 36mph over the maximum speed allowed. His crashed his Mazda into a Jeep in which Julie was the passenger.

Marszalek had seven prior occurrences of speeding on his driving record at the time of the accident. Had a few of those been given stiffer penalties, he may not have been legally allowed to drive at the time of the accident, possibly keeping him off the road. The accident may have been avoided.

Upon learning the current laws governing punishments for speeding offenders, Julie’s parents fought for increased penalties for repeat offenders. Their diligence resulted in the passage of “Julie’s Law”, which prohibits judges from assigning probation to drivers travelling over 30mph (highway) and 25 mph (non-rural road).

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 Posted on September 29, 2012 in Personal Injury

The former Bolingbrook police sergeant was found guilty last week of murdering his third wife Kathleen Salvo in 2004. After this defeat, as the Chicago Tribune reports, his sons have asked to be removed from the wrongful death lawsuit that has been filed on their behalf by their late mother’s estate. This request was followed by a request by Peterson’s counsel that the entire lawsuit be dismissed.

Kris Peterson went to the Will County Courthouse after his 18^th birthday to file paperwork for the civil case. At that time, the murder trial for his father was just in its second week.

Thomas was allowed to be removed from the aforementioned civil case after his 18^th birthday last year. Under current Illinois law, only the children or spouse of the victim can make claim in a wrongful death suit. This civil suit was pending until the criminal trial was concluded.

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 Posted on August 22, 2012 in Car Accidents

A mother and son from Rodgers Park spent their Saturday at the Air and Water Show on August 18^th.  Unfortunately, the pair never made it back home to talk about their fun filled day. Marija Bala, 39, and her 6-year-old son Luka were travelling home to the 1700 block of W Estes Avenue on Lake Shore Drive nearby Montrose Avenue, when a horrific accident occurred.

The vehicle transporting the Balas lost control around 6 pm on that Saturday.  They travelled from the northbound lanes across the sizable median and into the southbound lane of traffic. Marija’s car smashed into a vehicle travelling the opposite direction and injured two people. Luka Bala was pronounced dead at 6:21 pm at Lurie Children’s Hospital from injuries suffered during the car accident. His mother, Marija died two hours later at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

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 Posted on August 08, 2012 in Car Accidents

Thursday, August 2^nd was a difficult day for nearly 70 passengers on a Megabus coach bus.  On a ride between Chicago and St. Louis, the double-decker bus hit a highway overpass support beam 55 miles south.  Investigators were initially confused as to how the bus came to hit the concrete pillar near Lichtfield, Illinois around 1:20 pm.

"We've had no reports of erratic driving or anything along those lines," said Illinois State Police Lt. Louis Kink. "From our witness statements, most of its leaning toward the tire malfunction."  The bus company endorsed the suppositions of the authorities.  The bus itself had been manufactured within the year as well as passing a full preventative maintenance test less than a week prior to the accident.

A total of thirty ambulances, seven fire departments and five helicopters were present at the scene of the accident.  The front of the bus itself was so destroyed by the accident that rescuers had to use ladders to save people from the wreckage.  47 people in all were taken to hospitals for varying degrees of injuries.  Some people were airlifted to hospitals in Springfield and St. Louis, including the driver of the bus who immediately went into surgery.

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