Wisconsin driver ticketed in fatal 2024 crash on Tri-State had history of drunk driving offenses
A violent four-car crash killed a 76-year-old woman on the Tri-State. Some said the crash was no accident.
Police said the driver responsible had alcohol in his system and a long record of drunk driving, but he walked away with nothing more than a speeding ticket.
The view from CBS Skywatch following the crashshowed a crumpled heap of twisted metal. A car that belonged to 76-year-old Bernice Pawilan.
On June 7, 2024, the Wisconsin driver of a Ford 150 slammed into it at 78 miles per hour. Pawilan did not survive. Three other people were also hurt in that crash.
Neighbors said she lived pretty "off the grid," but the Ingleside woman was remembered fondly by her coworkers at Lambs Farm, a non-profit that helps adults with developmental disabilities.
"We continue to feel the loss to this day. She was an energetic, warm woman who contributed greatly to our mission. We miss her very much."
"Her life mattered, and he's had all of this history," said Sheila Lockwood.
Lockwood is a national ambassador for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. She's talking about the driver who caused the crash. He is not being named because he hasn't been charged with a crime. But Lockwood and many others believe he should have been.
"And Bernice deserves all of us to be fighting for her and what's right," she said.
CBS News Chicago found that the Wisconsin driver had already been labeled a habitual traffic offender—after three drunk driving convictions in 2007 and 2008, plus two cases of trying to flee police. His license was revoked for five years.
Even after getting it back, the problems didn't stop. He kept getting pulled over for inattentive driving.
In 2018, he crashed into another car while his three-year-old son was in the back seat.
So when he slammed into Pawilan's car on I-294, he was driving under a strict restriction — his blood alcohol level could not be higher than 0.02.
When troopers arrived, he refused a DUI kit at the scene. He told police he'd had "less than 12 Busch Light beers" the night before.
Medical records showed his blood alcohol level was 0.076 after his blood was drawn at the hospital. Only after being told his license would be suspended for refusing the test did he suddenly "change his mind."
Six hours after the crash, he took the official test. That one showed no alcohol in his system.
So how was he able to change his mind?
It was found that in Illinois, there is no legal time limit for when a driver has to take an alcohol test after a crash.
Other states draw a clear line. Iowa, Connecticut, and Colorado require testing within two hours of the incident. Wisconsin allows up to three. But in Illinois, there's no deadline at all.
State police said they submitted the hospital blood draw, showing a blood alcohol level of 0.076, to the Cook County State's Attorney's Office when they asked for criminal charges, which were denied.
"You have the absolute right to refuse a breathalyzer test, period," CBS Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller.
Miller said a driver can change his or her mind, but it would ultimately be up to a judge to decide whether to allow it.
"Some judges will say, 'Wait, I'm not going to buy it. You said no, no is no.' Other judges are going to say, 'Wait a second. You know, you changed your mind? Fine. So you can keep your driver's license.' It, it's a judicial one-by-one, depending on who the judge is, but it's not a statutory requirement," Miller said.
He said the driver being just four one-thousandths of a point below the legal limit makes all the difference. Legally, it means he was not considered under the influence.
But that's not the whole story.
The driver still violated the strict blood-alcohol restriction on his license.
Here's where this case gets even messier.
That violation should have triggered a license revocation, but it was found to have never happened.
A spokesperson for Wisconsin's Department of Transportation said they were never made aware of the fatal crash.
"It is up to law enforcement and the convicting court in each state to determine what constitutes a violation of a license restriction and what citation is issued," the spokesperson said.
But Illinois State Police said they don't have the authority to revoke an out-of-state driver's license.
So, despite a fatal crash, despite a documented alcohol restriction, and despite a history of dangerous driving, and despite the death of 78-year-old Bernice Pawilan, the driver walked away with a $356 fine.
Why even have these restrictions if there's no way to follow up?
"Loophole after loophole," Lockwood said. "Why is he still driving? And does he have children? And, you know, are they at risk? Everybody on the road is at risk."
And there's one more twist to the story.
At the time of the crash, the driver wasn't supposed to be on the road at all. He worked for the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and was scheduled to work remotely from home that day. He was fired as a result. Despite everything that was uncovered, he has continued to hold a valid driver's license since the crash.
When asked why charges weren't pursued in the crash or if they still could be considered, a spokesperson for the Cook County State's Attorneys' Office said that after a thorough review, "the evidence was insufficient to meet our burden of proof to approve felony charges."