Driver pleads not guilty to reckless homicide, DUI in crash that killed 2 teens in Hoffman Estates
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (CBS) -- A man charged with drunk driving in the crash that killed two teens is expected in court this morning.
Deni Rubio, 32, was indicted last month on two counts of reckless homicide, six counts of aggravated DUI, one count of attempting to disarm a police officer, and one count of possession of cocaine.
Prosecutors say his blood alcohol level was almost twice the legal limit when he ran the red light at Higgins and Barrington and hit another car just before 9 a.m. on June 10. According to court records, he was driving without a valid license.
The crash killed two recent Schaumburg High School graduates, Amelia Mazeikis and D'Shaun Tudela, both 18. Mazeikis was driving Tudela to work at the time.
"I have experienced no pain like this before," Mazeikis' mother, Stephanie Maze, told CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov earlier this week as she prepared for Rubio's arraignment. "I wake up and I break every single day, over and over again."
Rubio was on probation for a 2022 weapons charge at the time of the crash. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on Friday, and was ordered to enter a substance abuse program at Cook County Jail.
He is due back in court on Sept. 11 in Rolling Meadows.
Maze said she doesn't want Rubio's case – or her child's life – to be forgotten.
"Whatever we can do to continue to fight for this beautiful person, I want to do it," Maze said. "She was the type of person who would win a competition – and then feel bad for the people that didn't win, and want to give them her trophy."
After the collision, Rubio's truck ended up in a ditch. Prosecutors said he tried grabbing one police officer's gun before nine officers were finally able to subdue him.