Posted on 05/26/2007 6:21:14 AM PDT by Krankor
A DuPage County prosecutor killed in a drunken driving crash was traveling more than 80 mph and possibly using her cell phone seconds before her government-issued car struck another vehicle head-on, authorities said Friday.
A 33-page police report also indicated that Jane Radostits had been drinking before the May 11 crash during a long lunch at an Oak Brook restaurant with seven other prosecutors and another office staffer.
Lab results released last week showed that Radostits, 46, had a blood-alcohol level of .25 percent -- three times the level at which a motorist is considered drunk.
"She was drunk, and she was speeding. Those are horrible circumstances," DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said Friday after reviewing the crash report prepared by the DuPage County Sheriff's Department.
The 3:45 p.m. crash seriously injured Michele Lubinski, 36, of West Chicago, whose sport-utility vehicle was hit by Radostits' county-issued Chevy Impala. Two other vehicles were damaged in the crash near Winfield.
"My heart is broken over what's taken place," Birkett said.
He confirmed Friday that veteran prosecutor Jeffrey Kendall, who had been drinking with Radostits and later gave her a ride in his county car back to the Wheaton courthouse so she could pick up her work vehicle, has resigned in the wake of the revelations. But Birkett would not say whether he asked Kendall to leave.
Birkett would not comment on whether any of the other prosecutors who had been at the lunch at the Kona Grill in Oak Brook have been disciplined, though sources say none has been punished.
Radostits and Kendall were the first to arrive at the restaurant, coming from the DuPage County courthouse after a bomb threat forced the closure of the building. While other prosecutors arrived later and stayed for a lesser amount of time, Radostits and Kendall spent at least three hours there, investigators said.
Other prosecutors who were with Radostits, a respected deputy bureau chief in the office, estimated she had three to five drinks, but they told police they saw "no outward signs of impairment or intoxication."
Radostits and Kendall, who could not be reached for comment, had received permission to take the rest of the day off, officials said.
Data obtained from Radostits' Impala indicated that in the seconds before the crash, she was driving between 81 and 85 mph -- far exceeding the posted 45 mph limit, investigators said. There was no indication that Radostits tried to brake before the crash on Winfield Road, nor did she appear to be wearing a seat belt, investigators said.
"The excessive speed combined with the blood alcohol level may have given the driver of the Impala a false sense of how fast she was traveling," Detective Kevin Farley wrote in the crash report.
Phone records also indicate she apparently was making a cell phone call about the time the crash occurred, investigators said in the report.
Sheriff John Zaruba declined to comment on the crash report, except to say it had been released without prior review by Birkett's office.
Lubinski, who broke her left arm and left leg in the crash, remains "completely bedridden," her attorney said Friday.
Attorney Dennis Stefanowicz questioned why at least some prosecutors were drinking after the bomb threat closed down the courthouse.
"This wasn't a routine bomb threat," he said. "It seemed to be more of a party on behalf of the DuPage County state's attorney's office."
It's that Relativity thing... you never seen Einstein busted for DWI, didja? Well?
I learned of those in the early 70’s, and my (now nameless) informant called them “Depthcharges.” Something about not exploding until they hit bottom...
Sad to say —this would be expected from an illegal alien.
Could be a drug interaction involved, or if she had an underlying liver problem she would metabolize alcohol more slowley...
Got that right!
I have seen people do this first hand many times. The only difference was that it was three hours.
A football game.
most if not all new cars and trucks onboard computers will save some data after a crash and things like engine rpm and what gear the transmission was in can help calculate speed etc.
It has been this way on trucks and busses for quite awhile now and I have used it in post accident inspections on big rigs. It has only gotten into the smaller cars recently.
The woman who hit me was .25 bac
she looked at my motorcycle she looked at me and then at my leg lying behind me (Almost completely severed and gushing blood)
and said .....
“ I need your insurance card...you F&$*@d up my car”
It is scary that someone can be so drunk and still do so much damage.
From Birkett press release issued the day after the wreck:
Birkett: The driver of another vehicle involved was also injured. We pray for her speedy and full recovery.
Retrieved info from the data recorder figured in the news of Corzine’s crash. That’s where/ how we learned the speed of the guv’s Suburban seconds before the crash.
> The Chicago Tribune will lie or slant, you can count on it.
I have always enjoyed reading the Chicago Tribune, and have found it to have excellent editorial balance.
Its columnists, like Mike Royko (RIP), John Kass, Clarance Page, Steve Chapman &tc can hardly be called biased. It is unfortunate that the Trib owned the Cubs franchise, but everyone makes mistakes (Go Sox!).
I would rely on the Trib giving good balanced coverage to this story.
Are you a regular Chicago Trib subscriber where you live in socialist New Zealand?
Leni
Scary and sad.
It generally takes years of daily heavy 'practice' to remain ambulatory at a .25 BAC.
I know of one person who tested above .40, but he drank heavily, daily, and although he was a reasonably good mechanic, could not seem to get the wrench on a bolt until he had his first half-pint of spirits in the morning.
Once you have increased speed to whatever level, you become used to it. It doesn’t seem as fast as it was when you first attained that speed.
LOL! You aren’t just a kidding.
The training I received was that we burn off about .015 per hour. We rounded it up to a drink an hour.
Pr.20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Pr.23:29 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30 They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
31 Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
32 At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
33 Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
34 Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
35 They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
From what I can remember, Mr. Birkett has been a politician for a long time, and it's easy for professional politicians to avoid having any concern for the well-being of private citizens when it is not campaign season.
And it's not a common thing to see cabs in OakBrook, or most parts of DuPage County. The only acceptable form of mass transaportation there is the commuter train from Chicago.
The other woman is still recovering.
From what I understand, Birkett is tough on crime and has some angry about this.
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