Visitation held for Magdalena Jablonska, woman killed in boat crash on Fox River

Family and friends of a woman killed in a boat crash on the Fox River last month came together over the weekend for a visitation.

People paid their respects to Magdalena Jablonska, 48, of Des Plaines at the Ryan-Parke Funeral Home, Ryan-Parke Funeral Home, at 120 S. Northwest Hwy. in Park Ridge.

Jablonska was killed on July 25 when a triple-engine pontoon boat operated by 45-year-old Richard Stevenson of Lisle collided with her boat in a no-wake zone. Prosecutors said Stevenson, 45, was going more than 70 miles per hour at the time of the crash.

Jablonska was killed instantly. Authorities said Stevenson had a blood alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit at the time of the crash. He is now criminally charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence.

Jablonska's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Stevenson this past Friday.

Lawyers representing her family and her fiancé said they filed the lawsuit to further investigate the circumstances that led to the fatal crash. They will look into whether Stevenson was overserved alcohol at a business before he drove the boat, and if the three engines powering the pontoon played a part in the crash.

They also want to know if anyone knowingly allowed Stevenson to operate the boat despite a history of dangerous conduct, whether anyone who owned or controlled the boat negligently entrusted it to an unsafe driver, and whether any additional parties may share responsibility for Jablonska's death.