LOGAN SQUARE — The wife of 62-year-old Aliser Maldonado, killed in November in a car crash, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the driver and the person who owned the car.
In the suit, which was filed Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, Francisca Otero, Maldonado's wife, argues her family, which includes three sons and one daughter, has suffered financial loss, "grief and sorrow" as a result of his death.
The fatal crash happened in the hours after the final Cubs World Series game on Nov. 3.
Demetrius Frayzier, 30 of Jefferson Park, was driving his mother's black 2005 Chrysler 300 when he offered to give two people who'd been watching the final Cubs World Series game a ride, according to prosecutors. Frayzier knew one of the people from work, prosecutors said.
After a quick stop at a gas station, Frayzier began heading south on Western Avenue, hitting speeds up to 80 mph, according to prosecutors.
The two passengers believed Frayzier had been drinking and made comments about his driving, Walters said. Frayzier turned up the music and continued to speed along Western Avenue, running two red lights as he approached a third light at Logan Boulevard, prosecutors said.
Frayzier whipped around two cars that had stopped for that red light and crashed into a 1994 Mazda that was traveling east on Logan, according to prosecutors.
The impact in killed that car's driver, Maldonado of the 2800 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, who was on his way to his job at Target, 2656 N. Elston Ave., at the time, according to court records and Otero's attorney, Michael Mead of the law firm Faklis, Tallis & Mead.
"I think it's a real tragedy what happened. He left behind a lot of people who really cared about him," Mead said, adding that he hopes to get "civil justice for the family."
Frayzier's two passengers were temporarily knocked unconscious by the force of the crash, prosecutors said. One passenger awoke to see Frayzier running away in the 2400 block of North Western Avenue and getting into a blue SUV.
Frayzier was charged with reckless homicide and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury or death. At a bond hearing on Nov. 11, Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered Frayzier held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The lawsuit is next in court 10:30 a.m. May 24 in Room 2206 at the Daley Center, 50 W. Washington St.
The lawsuit was first reported by the Sun-Times.
