Drunk Driver Sentenced to 5 Years for Fatal Chicago Crash

September 1, 2010 - A drunk driver who was convicted for his role in the death of a young woman was sentenced on Tuesday. According to a report at the Chicago Sun-Times, the driver will spend the next 5 years in prison as a result of the 2007 car crash.

The 38-year-old man from Melrose Park was intoxicated when he crashed his Mercedes into the victim's Dodge Neon on the Eisenhower Expressway. Police say he was driving 100 miles per hour when the car accident occurred, and investigators later determined that his blood alcohol content was .19, which is well above the legal limit of .08. After crashing into the victim's car, the male driver attempted to flee the scene before he was apprehended by police. The victim, a 22-year-old woman from Maywood, was killed in the crash. She left behind a 4-year-old daughter.

The driver read a statement to the victim's family in a Cook County courtroom on Tuesday morning, in which he expressed his sorrow and regret for the crash. According to the Sun-Time's reporter, the victim's father and the driver's wife both burst into tears as the statement was being read. The convicted drunk driver has 3 children, including 1 with a disability.