COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The 19-year-old man who caused a fatal Norwood Park crash last week is allowed to go home, a Cook County judge ruled Tuesday.
Mishel Lame, 19, has been in county custody since Thursday, when Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered him held without bail. Lame was still being treated at a hospital and unable to attend the bond hearing.
Prosecutors on Thursday alleged Lame had been drinking alcohol, smoking marijuana and taking muscle relaxers before he got behind the wheel of a white BMW on Jan. 18 and caused a multi-car collision near Nagle and Carmen. His passenger, 20-year-old Marion-Mario Tahiraj, was killed in the crash.
Lame is charged with aggravated DUI causing death. His BAC after the crash was .19, almost 2½ times the legal limit for driving.
Lame appeared in court for the first time Tuesday before Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr., who said Lame could be released on his own recognizance pending trial.
According to court records, Lame was ordered to surrender his passport and will have to undergo random drug testing. He'll have a 7 p.m. curfew and is not allowed to contact any witnesses.
The crash happened about 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 18 in the 5100 block of North Nagle Avenue.
Lame was driving a white BMW northbound on Nagle Avenue when he rear-ended a Jeep that was stopped at the intersection of Nagle and Carmen, prosecutors said. The Jeep slammed into a Lexus that was stopped in front of it — sending the Lexus into oncoming traffic, where it crashed into a Honda that had been heading south on Nagle, according to Assistant State's Attorney Salas-Wail, who spoke during Lame's initial hearing Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lame's BWM spun around and struck a tree on the east side of Nagle, prosecutors said, knocking down the tree. Lame had been speeding, according to police.
When officers arrived on the scene, they saw Lame standing on the sidewalk about 10 feet from the BMW. Tahiraj was trapped inside Lame's car, prosecutors said.
Fire department personnel were able to extract Tahiraj from the car. He was pronounced dead at 10:50 p.m. at Lutheran General Hospital, authorities said. The cause of death was multiple blunt-force injuries due to a motor-vehicle accident, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.
None of the occupants from the Jeep, Lexus or Honda were seriously injured, Salas-Wail said.
Lame, of the 6400 block of West Warner Avenue in Dunning, is charged with aggravated DUI causing death. He was also cited for negligent driving, failing to slow down and driving a car without insurance, police said.
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