Seven or eight beers, and nine shots of liquor in one and a half hours? On that frame? Yeah, I guess she was a little drunk.
Posted on 05/28/2011 12:34:57 PM PDT by Krankor
A local model was videotaped binge drinking before she was killed when her car plunged into the North Branch of the Chicago River, a city source said Friday.
The disclosure comes after Irma Sabanovic’s family filed a lawsuit against the city saying warning signs and better barricades could have prevented the accident.
Sabanovic, a 25-year-old model and college student, was last seen alive May 12 as she headed from Chuckie’s bar in Rogers Park to the Exit nightclub near North and Elston avenues.
At 2 a.m., she sent a text message to a friend saying she was lost.
Her car was pulled out of the water Sunday after it was discovered by the police marine unit. The blue Ford Focus was in the Chicago River where Blackhawk Street dead-ends on the east bank — just a few blocks south of the Exit nightclub.
A city source said a video taken at Chuckie’s showed Sabanovic drinking seven or eight beers and nine shots of liquor over a period of about 1 ½ hours. Another video showed her car traveling at a “high rate of speed” before striking trees and flipping upside down into the river, the source said.
But Ian R. Alexander, the attorney for her family, said he spoke to bartenders at Chuckie’s — where Sabanovic had worked —and they said she didn’t drink nearly that much alcohol that night.
“This is the city trying to muddy the waters,” Alexander said.
He said he’s waiting for autopsy results that may show what Sabanovic’s blood-alcohol content was when she died. The main issue, though, isn’t whether Sabanovic was drunk but why the city didn’t place a barricade and signs at the end of the street, Alexander said. He pointed out that Richard Roman, a 26-year-old aspiring actor and cabbie, was killed in 1992 when he drove his taxi off Blackhawk Street and into the river on the opposite bank. His family received a $500,000 legal settlement from the city, which installed concrete barriers and a stop sign there.
“The city made the same mistake twice, and two people died who shouldn’t have died,” Alexander said.
Seven or eight beers, and nine shots of liquor in one and a half hours? On that frame? Yeah, I guess she was a little drunk.
Wow...I wonder how she even managed to walk, let alone get a key in the ignition....
That much intoxication ought to get anyone else besides her off the liability hook, but we are talking Chicago here, folks.
Practice, practice, practice.
She probably would have blown at least a .30 or higher.. that’s a lot of beers and shots in a pretty short time..
liabilities are gonna land on someone’s head or heads over this.. and frankly, should.. jmho
Unfortunate and self-destructive business; alas, the responsibility is entirely her own, and should not be “compensated” in any way, shape, or form.
It was not the kind of “Exit” she had in mind.
They’ll go after the bartenders next
She ought not have been out and about while drinking even a fraction of that, but if she’s a model why didn’t she at least have a chauffeur? Had she fallen on hard times which drove her to drink? A Ford Focus isn’t exactly a Lincoln.
“But Ian R. Alexander, the attorney for her family, said he spoke to bartenders at Chuckie’s — where Sabanovic had worked —and they said she didn’t drink nearly that much alcohol that night.”
I guess we really have to wait for the blood test results.
Especially for someone that anorexic looking. She needed to spend some serious time at The Hungry Heffer.
I think she was in the water for two weeks. I wouldn’t expect blood test results.
for me, a 220 lb male, i'd be pretty hammered.
for a 110 lb model? she prolly wouldn't have lasted to the morning (not unless she purged, which could easily be the case)
Little, LOL, she could not find a car, and driving one, well damn, suicide. End of case!!!!
It’s kinda hard to believe she could drink that much in 1-1/2 hours. She was as skinny as a rail, but I think she was about six feet tall. She’s only 25, so I don’t know if she was old enough to build up a tolerance for that much alcohol. She might have started real young, and she did work in a bar. I wonder if she actually did any modelling that actually paid anything.
The important thing is that she died doing what she loved to do.
“I think she was in the water for two weeks.”
Gosh! I guess I shoulda read the article! I usually do,,,,,,.....
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