Wrong-way driver charged with DUI in fatal crash
BY STEVE METSCH smetsch@southtownstar.com March 13, 2013 5:50PM
Cook County Sheriff's Department investigators work north of the scene of a fatal car accident on Lagrange Road near 107th street in Palos Township , IL on Tuesday March 7, 2013. Matt Marton~Sun-Times Media
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Updated: April 16, 2013 3:36PM
A 19-year-old Burr Ridge man’s blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit when he crashed head-on into another car early Tuesday, killing an Orland Park man, Cook County sheriff’s police said.
Nicholas Puccinelli, of the 8900 block of Glenmora Lane, was charged with aggravated drunken driving, police spokeswoman Sophia Ansari said Wednesday. He is scheduled to appear in court Thursday morning at the Bridgeview courthouse, she said.
Puccinelli has been in custody since being released Tuesday from Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was taken with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash, Ansari said.
She said he told police he was driving from a friend’s home when the crash took place.
John Anagnopoulos, 64, of the 15400 block of Sunset Ridge Drive, was driving to his job as a short-order cook in Lyons when his car was hit by Puccinelli’s sport utility vehicle in the 10500 block of LaGrange Road in Palos Township, authorities said. They said Anagnopoulos was northbound, and Puccinelli was southbound in the northbound lanes.
Visitation for Anagnopoulos will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday at Damar-Kaminski Funeral Home, 7861 S. 88th Ave., Justice.
After a visitation at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, the funeral will begin at noon at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, 7560 Archer Road, Justice.
