Woman Charged With DUI In Fatal Crash In Englewood
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 28-year-old woman has been charged with drunk driving in a crash that killed a young mother in the Englewood neighborhood on Friday.
Gloria Smith, of the 7000 block of South Claremont Avenue, has been charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence without a driver's license, police said. She was also cited for misdemeanor driving without a license, driving without insurance and failure to wear a seat belt.
Police said Smith was driving a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix that crashed head-on into a Pontiac Grand Am at 2:10 a.m. Friday in the 7000 block of South Halsted Street. A passenger in her car, 28-year-old Laquesha Simmons, was ejected from the Grand Prix and killed.
The driver of the Grand Am was also suspected of driving drunk.
Simmons worked at the Sears store downtown, and was a student at Olive-Harvey College. She leaves behind two children.
"Good person, kind-hearted, took care of kids, you know, enjoyed life," said Deandre Newell, a friend of the victim's.
Simmons father, Larry Simmons, said he talked to his daughter not long before the crash.
"I spoke to her last night at like 10:30," he said. "She told me she was going home…. She stayed right by that corner, and she never made it."
A 24-year-old passenger in the Grand Prix was also critically injured in the crash, and was being treated at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
The 24-year-old man who was driving the Grand Am was in fair condition at Stroger.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
