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Drunken Driver Was Going 72 mph Before Fatal Grant Park Crash: Prosecutors

By Erica Demarest | May 5, 2017 5:28pm | Updated on May 8, 2017 8:25am
 Samantha Salazar, 27, drove over a sidewalk and into Grant Park, where she crashed into a barrier.
Samantha Salazar, 27, drove over a sidewalk and into Grant Park, where she crashed into a barrier.
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Google Earth; Cook County Sheriff's Office

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The drunken driver who caused a fatal crash at Grant Park last weekend was going 72 miles per hour when she drove her car over a sidewalk and into the grass, prosecutors said Friday.

Samantha Salazar, 27, later admitted to drinking whiskey and pop before getting behind the wheel of a 2011 Lincoln Continental late Sunday, police and prosecutors said.

Her blood-alcohol content at the time of the crash was .12. The legal driving limit is .08.

According to prosecutors, Salazar was heading north in the 1200 block of South Indiana Avenue about 11:30 p.m. Sunday when she approached a T-intersection at Indiana and Roosevelt.

There was one passenger in the car: 52-year-old James Pickett.

Instead of turning or braking at the T, Salazar sped forward into Grant Park — causing her car to go airborne over a sidewalk before it touched down on a grassy slope and eventually crashed into a concrete embankment, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Carlson said during a bond hearing Friday.

The car's black box revealed Salazar was driving 72.2 mph before she crashed and didn't brake until a half-second before impact, prosecutors said. It was raining, and roads were slick.

Salazar was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for a broken leg, Carlson said.

Pickett, of the 8600 block of South Damen Avenue, was pronounced dead at Northwestern at 1:03 a.m. Monday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. His cause and manner of death are listed as blunt-force injuries caused by a traffic accident.

Salazar, of the 900 block of North Sacramento Boulevard, is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated DUI causing death.

Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas on Friday set bail at $750,000.