PHOTOS: Crash kills young mother on South Side
Kevin P. Crawley, 19, of the 12800 block of South Justine, is charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death and DUI of an intoxicating compound; and cited for disobeying a red steady signal stop and operating a vehicle without insurance and, police said.
On Monday, Judge Adam Bourgeois ordered him held on $250,000 and set a preliminary hearing for Oct. 28, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Stephen Campbell.
Two vehicles collided at 2:26 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of 63rd Street and Woodlawn Avenue, police said.
Crawley was driving a 1999 white Infiniti sedan west on 63rd when he ran a red light and was struck in the rear by a blue 2002 Nissan traveling south on Woodlawn with a green light, police said. The Infiniti then spun out of control and struck a utility pole. The pole snapped and slammed onto the car's hood.
Tabria Jarmon, 18, of the 5600 block of South Prairie Avenue was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where she died at 3:37 a.m., the Cook County Medical Examiner's office said. She was a passenger in the Infiniti, police said.
Crawley was taken in "stable" condition to Northwestern Memorial, police said, and a 22-year-old man, also a passenger in the Infiniti, was taken in "stable" condition to University of Chicago Medical Center.
The 26-year-old male driver of the Nissan and his 26-year-old female passenger refused treatment, police said.
The driver of the Nissan was also ticketed for not having insurance, police said.
On Sunday, family and friends came to the scene to grieve Jarmon. Her family said she was a young mother that left behind a 7-month-old son, Chase.
A surveillance video was taken from inside the Robust Coffee Shop steps away from the crash.
Jake Sepstein owns the coffee shop and says the intersection is notorious for bad crashes.
"Unfortunately, we've seen this type of thing a few times," Septstein said. "My partner and I opened this shop three and a half years ago. This is probably the third fatal accident, and at least a dozen horrible accidents have happened."
He said he thinks the placement of the traffic signals, which were recently repaired after a storm, is part of the problem.
"A lot of lights in the city are positioned where they are in the middle of the intersection hanging over the street," he said. "The light at all four intersections at 63rd and Woodlawn are at the corners which, when the trees are in bloom, you don't actually see some of them until you're 10-15 feet from the light."
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
