Man ordered detained on DUI charges in crash that killed worker on Tri-State Tollway
A man was ordered detained Thursday in a crash that killed an Illinois Tollway on the Tri-State Tollway last weekend.
Paul Ong, 37, was charged with one count of aggravated driving under the influence involving death, a Class 2 felony. He appeared for a detention hearing at the Skokie Courthouse on Thursday.
At 4:15 a.m. this past Saturday, the Illinois Toll Highway Authority learned of a pothole on southbound I-294 near Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines, and three workers responded to the scene. All three parked their orange state vehicles on the right-hand shoulder, and all the vehicles had their emergency lights activated, according the Cook County state's Attorney's office.
One of the vehicles also had a light-up arrow, and all three workers had their yellow and orange reflective gear on. One also had a headlamp, prosecutors said.
The workers waited for traffic to lighten so they could examine the pothole, when they saw Ong change lanes and accelerate directly toward them, prosecutors said. The worker with the headlamp tried to redirect Ong, but this did not work, prosecutors said.
One worker jumped out of the way to avoid being struck, prosecutors said. Ong swerved and then hit another worker, causing him to fly through the air and land some distance away from the scene, prosecutors said.
This worker, 52-year-old Calvin Holley, was pronounced dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.
Officials confirmed Holley was an equipment operator and laborer who had worked with the Illinois Tollway for the past two years.
Illinois State Police said at the time that the other two workers were also hospitalized.
Ong remained on the scene as police arrived. His car was damaged and disabled, and officers found that he had bloodshot eyes and an odor of alcohol on his breath. He declined to take a breathalyzer test, but police did take a test of his blood alcohol level and found it was .101, above the legal limit, four hours after the crash.
State police believe Ong's blood alcohol level was .161, more than twice the legal limit, at the time of the crash.
Investigators found that five seconds before the crash, Ong was driving 93 mph, and three second before the crash, he was driving 83 mph.
Ong has a pending felony for aggravated unlawful use of a firearm and a previous conviction for speeding 15 to 25 mph over the speed limit, prosecutors said.
