Woman Seeking 'Better Life' in U.S. Killed by Driver with .24 BAC: Court

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A 28-year-old woman who had moved to the U.S. "to make a better life for herself" was killed by a drunken driver going 70 mph with a .24 blood alcohol concentration, friends and prosecutors said Friday.

That's three times the legal BAC limit of .08.

Serbian immigrant and West Ridge resident Tijana Stanojevic, 28, was heading home from a birthday party about 3 a.m. Sept. 20 when her car was slammed into by a Chevy Malibu going 70 mph on the eastbound Kennedy Expressway near Sayre Avenue, according to court records, morgue records and friends.

The driver, 30-year-old Marissa Quintero, spoke with slurred speech and smelled like alcohol, Assistant State's Attorney Robert Kline said during a bond hearing Friday. A blood draw taken 20 minutes after the crash revealed her BAC to be .238, or three times the legal limit, Kline said.

Quintero was charged with aggravated DUI causing death and held Friday in lieu of $300,000 bail. Though she appeared in court on crutches, Quintero didn't sustain serious injuries, authorities said.

Stanojevic died at a suburban hospital about 6:30 p.m. that Sunday, more than 15 hours after the crash, according to prosecutors. Her passenger, a longtime friend, was injured but survived.

Since then, friends and locals have raised more than $20,000 to help send Stanojevic's body to Serbia so that her parents and sister can bury her there, according to the Rev. Aleksandar Petrovic, a parish priest in Albany Park.

Petrovic, who has known Stanojevic since she moved to Chicago a few years ago, said the local Serbian community is reeling after the crash.

"She was a really, really friendly person," he said. "Just an amazing person, very wise. You wouldn't hear anything bad coming out of her mouth, you know?"

Petrovic said Stanojevic studied accounting in Serbia and had been working several odd jobs in the U.S.

She often grabbed coffee at Cafe Beograd, a popular Serbian bar, cafe, hangout and grocery shop at 2939 W. Irving Park Rd., according to a local man named Dusko, who did not give his last name.

"It's a big loss to our Serbian community," Petrovic said. "She's someone who was always there for everybody, always finding a way to help. [She was] so friendly, so nice. Really an angel."

Friend Cvetanka Lazarov on Tuesday launched a GoFundMe campaign that's raised more than $15,000 for Stanojevic's family. That money will join collections set up by local businesses, Dusko and Petrovic said.

Lazarov wrote on the campaign website that Stanojevic "had come alone to the U.S. a few years ago to make a better life for herself. She does not have any family in the U.S."

Prosecutors in court Friday said Stanojevic was driving a 2001 Volkswagen Beetle when her car was struck from behind by Quintero's 2011 Malibu just before 3 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Stanojevic's car slammed into a light pole, causing the pole to fall across the Kennedy Expressway near Sayre Avenue on the Northwest Side, prosecutors said. The car continued up an embankment.

Stanojevic suffered head trauma, a broken pelvis and a broken neck bone, court records show.

Her passenger, whom Petrovic described as a longtime friend, had a concussion and several chest contusions, according to authorities. He has since been released from the hospital.

When state police gave Quintero a breathalyzer on the scene about 3 a.m. Sunday, she blew .208, Kline said. At a hospital 20 minutes later, a blood draw revealed her BAC to be .238, or three times the legal limit, Kline added.

Quintero had been driving 70 mph and didn't attempt to brake, according to a preliminary review of the Malibu's data recorder. There was significant damage to the back of the Beetle and the front of the Malibu, Kline said, and Quintero admitted she was driving.

According to prosecutors, there were two other people in Quintero's car, and neither sustained serious injuries.

Quintero, of the 5300 block of North Bowmanville Avenue, was previously convicted of a misdemeanor battery in 2002 and sentenced to six months of court supervision, according to prosecutors. She has no other criminal history.

Her defense attorney said Quintero works as an executive assistant for Party City and lives with her boyfriend.

Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Friday set bail at $300,000. If Quintero posts bond, the judge said, she is not allowed to drive and has to surrender her passport.

Services for Stanojevic will take place at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Stevan of Decani Serbian Orthodox Church, 3543 W. Leland Ave., according to Petrovic. He said Stanojevic's body will be shipped to Serbia on Monday.

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