Driver in fatal crash had blood-alcohol level 3 times limit: Prosecutors

Jan. 31--A Hermosa neighborhood man charged with drunken-driving causing a death told paramedics he'd been drinking beer before he crashed into a car in the West Town neighborhood Saturday, sending it over a curb and killing the other driver, prosecutors said Monday.

Yonatan Monrroy-Madrid, 19, was ordered held in lieu of $300,000 bail in a hearing before Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil, according to prosecutors and court records. Monrroy-Madrid is charged in the death of a 57-year-old man who was killed when his car was hit by Monrroy-Madrid's in the 400 block of North Ashland Avenue on Saturday, according to Cook County state's attorney's spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.

Authorities have not yet released the other driver's name, pending family notification.

The crash also injured a 19-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man who were in the back seat of the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee that Monrroy-Madrid was driving when he hit the 57-year-old's 2004 Toyota Camry, according to prosecutors and police.

Saturday afternoon, Monrroy-Madrid was driving at high speeds around the West Side, making quick turns onto various streets and blowing through stop lights and stop signs, prosecutors said Monday. About 1:30 p.m., he turned onto Hubbard Street and started west toward Ashland Avenue, going at high speed.

At Ashland, the Jeep hit the Camry, which was heading north on Ashland, sending it across the street, over a curb, through a fence and into a parking lot, prosecutors said.

The crash threw the woman passenger out of the Jeep and killed the driver of the Camry, who was pronounced dead on the scene, prosecutors said.

Monrroy-Madrid was already out of the Jeep by the emergency crews arrived at the scene, prosecutors said. He was slurring his speech and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, and he admitted he had been driving the Jeep and had been drinking beer.

Monrroy-Madrid and his passengers were taken to Stroger Hospital, according to police. At the hospital, a blood draw indicated his blood-alcohol level was .24 percent--three times the legal limit of .08, prosecutors said.

Both passengers were treated and released from Stroger.

The 57-year-old from Multiple blunt force injuries due to a motor-vehicle collision, the Cook County medical examiner's office determined following an autopsy.

In addition to drunken-driving charges, Monrroy-Madrid, of the 2200 block of North Knox Avenue, also was given citations alleging failure to stop at stop sign, failure to yield or reduce speed and operating a motor vehicle without insurance, according to police. He's due back in court on Feb. 21.

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