A Chicago man has been charged with a raft of traffic offenses and cited as the cause of the April 30 two-car crash on First Avenue that took the life a young Summit woman.
Upon being released from Loyola Hospital where he had been taken after the accident, Luis Duran was arrested by Riverside Police. He has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence, reckless homicide, driving with a revoked license, driving without insurance, transporting open alcohol and being more than 35 miles over the speed limit among other charges.
Duran had a bond hearing May 5 at Cook County courthouse in Maybrook.
Samantha Nieves, 23, a Summit resident, was killed in the violent crash involving a Chevy Malibu and a GMC sports utility vehicle on First Avenue just south of Waubansee Road in Riverside on the night of April 30.
Riverside Public Safety Director Matthew Buckley said the other four people hurt in the crash all suffered non-life threatening injuries. Nieves was a front seat passenger in the Chevy Malibu.
The crash occurred at about 8 p.m., according to Buckley. The Malibu, which was carrying Nieves and the driver, was headed northbound on First Avenue, according to Buckley. The GMC vehicle, which was carrying three people, was traveling southbound at the time of the crash.
Both vehicles sustained substantial damage and Nieves was trapped inside the Chevy and had to be extricated by firefighters from Riverside, Lyons and McCook. Ambulances from Lyons, Berwyn, Brookfield, North Riverside and the Pleasantview Fire Protection District responded to the scene and transported crash victims to Loyola and MacNeal hospitals.
Riverside police used witness accounts and accident reconstruction to determine the cause of the accident was excessive speed and Duran’s impaired condition. Riverside police were assisted by the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force (WESTAF) Major Crash Investigation Team in handling the crash reconstruction.
