Man who caused deadly crash had .207 blood-alcohol content: prosecutors – Chicago Sun

Updated: July 31, 2012 2:59PM

A man charged with causing a deadly three-car crash on the Kennedy Expressway over the weekend had a blood-alcohol content of more than 2.5 times the legal limit, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday.

Judge James Brown ordered 24-year-old Pavlo Lulak held on $750,000 bail for the Sunday morning accident that claimed the life of Maryina Holovii, 23.

Lulak had a blood alcohol level of .207 following the wreck, assistant state’s attorney Craig Engebretson said.

Minutes before the accident, Lulak and his seven passengers, including Holovii, were at a house party where he was seen drinking whiskey, Engebretson said.

After that, the group headed to a North Side dance club until they called it a night a little after 4 a.m., prosecutors said.

Holovii was sitting in the lap of a male passenger who was directly behind the driver’s seat before Lulak slammed his 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer into safety barriers and then slid along the concrete wall near the Armitage exit ramp in the northbound lanes of I-90, authorities said.

As Lulak zoomed erratically at excessive speeds, his passengers “screamed” at him to slow down, Engebretson said.

Lulak, who was in the far left lane, proceeded to cut off an off duty Chicago Police officer who was in the center lane, striking the cop’s front bumper, Engebretson said.

That’s when he lost control of his car and crashed, police said.

Another van was also struck during the incident, Illinois State Police said.

Holovii was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital where she later died. She suffered broken ribs and a punctured heart.

Lulak, of the 2800 block of North Newcastle, was taken to Northwestern Hospital where his blood was drawn and tested, Engebretson said.

Lulak, a truck driver who was born in Ukraine, has been charged with aggravated DUI involving a death.