COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The drunken driver who caused a fatal crash in Auburn Gresham this weekend was on parole for a 2013 gun conviction, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Markus Spires, 29, told police he drank half a pint of vodka before getting behind the wheel of a Dodge Caravan about 4:30 a.m. Sunday and running a stop sign at 78th and Loomis, prosecutors said. Spires slammed into a tow truck — killing its driver and critically wounding a passenger.
Spires' blood alcohol content would later test at 0.15, nearly twice the legal driving limit of 0.08, Assistant State's Attorney Becky Walters said during a bond hearing Tuesday.
The tow truck's 39-year-old passenger was still intubated in critical condition Monday, according to prosecutors. One of the man's kidneys was removed during emergency surgery.
Spires was convicted in June 2013 of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, state records show. He was sentenced to four years in prison and later released on parole.
Spires had been driving his Caravan west on 78th Street when he ran a stop sign and slammed into a tow truck going north on Loomis, prosecutors said.
The truck's driver, 30-year-old Barbara Pettis of southwest suburban Burbank, was thrown from the truck and pronounced dead on the scene, according to police and prosecutors.
The truck's passenger also was ejected, Walters said. He was dragged under the truck as it rolled into a nearby house, she said, and later taken in critical condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Spires (occasionally listed in court records as Markus Spiers) also was taken to Christ, where he was treated for soreness to his neck and back, prosecutors said. It was there authorities drew blood and learned Spires had a 0.15 BAC after the crash.
Spires, of the 900 block of West 86th Street, admitted to drinking and driving the Caravan, according to police. He is charged with aggravated DUI causing death and aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Tuesday ordered Spires held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
According to Assistant Public Defender Lorne Gorelick, Spires is married with four children, ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years old. Spires attended Kennedy-King College and works as a carpenter, Gorelick said.
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