Alsip woman gets five-year sentence in fatal DUI crash
March 5, 2013 4:24PM
Sarah Lavko / photo from Cook County Sheriff's office
Maps
Updated: April 7, 2013 6:32AM
An Alsip woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for a crash that killed one of her passengers after they left a Lil Wayne concert in Tinley Park in 2011, authorities said.
Sarah Lavko, 23, pleaded guilty last week to aggravated DUI and reckless homicide charges and was sentenced by Cook County Judge John Joseph Hynes, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokeswoman Lisa Gordon said.
Lavko was driving home from the concert at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre on Aug. 13, 2011, when she crashed about 11:40 p.m. in the 6200 block of 183rd Street in Tinley Park, killing 18-year-old Megan Elam, authorities said.
Tinley Park police Cmdr. Steve Vaccaro said after the crash that an open bottle of liquor was found in the car. Lavko’s blood-alcohol level was 0.197, more than twice the legal limit to drive, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Witnesses told police the car left the road and “flipped over four or five times” before settling on Cook County Forest Preserve District land on the north side of 183rd Street, Vaccaro said.
Elam, of Alsip, was thrown from the car and died from her injuries, authorities said. Lavko and another passenger were injured.
Contributing: Sun-Times Media Wire, staff reports
