COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A South Side woman was driving 89 mph on California Avenue when she caused a fatal crash in Brighton Park late Tuesday, prosecutors said. The speed limit is 30 mph.
Tania Reyna, 39, tested positive for PCP and had three bottles of Grey Goose vodka in her car, Assistant State's Attorney Erika Gilliam Booker said during a bond hearing Friday.
According to prosecutors, Reyna was driving a 2007 Chevy Equinox southbound on California about 11:45 p.m. Tuesday when she ran a stop sign at 44th Street and slammed into a car that was heading east through the intersection.
Reyna, who later admitted to drinking before driving, was going 89 mph at the time, Booker said.
The impact sent the victim's car crashing into a light pole and a CTA bus sign pole, which was uprooted from the ground, according to prosecutors. Debris from the crash broke the window of a nearby Boost Mobile store, Booker said.
The victim, 28-year-old Carlos De Lourdes, was brought to Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. According to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, De Lourdes had blunt-force trauma to his head and body, a fractured femur and contusions.
After Reyna hit De Lourdes' car, she kept driving on California and crashed into a parked car, which slammed into another parked car and two houses, Booker said. The second parked car hit a third — causing damage to all three vehicles, according to prosecutors.
Reyna and her boyfriend, who'd been a passenger in the Chevy Equinox, were treated and released from a local hospital, court records show.
Reyna is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated DUI causing death. She was also cited for running a stop sign, failure to reduce speed, failure to stay in her own lane and driving under the influence of alcohol.
According to court records, Reyna lives in McKinley Park. But her defense attorney Friday said Reyna is staying with family in south suburban Harvey. She has two children, ages 10 and 4, and worked for a hotel until she was recently laid off, the attorney said.
Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Friday ordered Reyna held in lieu of $300,000 bail.
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