Jane Radostits
Posted on 05/26/2007 6:21:14 AM PDT by Krankor
A DuPage County prosecutor killed in a drunken driving crash was traveling more than 80 mph and possibly using her cell phone seconds before her government-issued car struck another vehicle head-on, authorities said Friday.
A 33-page police report also indicated that Jane Radostits had been drinking before the May 11 crash during a long lunch at an Oak Brook restaurant with seven other prosecutors and another office staffer.
Lab results released last week showed that Radostits, 46, had a blood-alcohol level of .25 percent -- three times the level at which a motorist is considered drunk.
"She was drunk, and she was speeding. Those are horrible circumstances," DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said Friday after reviewing the crash report prepared by the DuPage County Sheriff's Department.
The 3:45 p.m. crash seriously injured Michele Lubinski, 36, of West Chicago, whose sport-utility vehicle was hit by Radostits' county-issued Chevy Impala. Two other vehicles were damaged in the crash near Winfield.
"My heart is broken over what's taken place," Birkett said.
He confirmed Friday that veteran prosecutor Jeffrey Kendall, who had been drinking with Radostits and later gave her a ride in his county car back to the Wheaton courthouse so she could pick up her work vehicle, has resigned in the wake of the revelations. But Birkett would not say whether he asked Kendall to leave.
Birkett would not comment on whether any of the other prosecutors who had been at the lunch at the Kona Grill in Oak Brook have been disciplined, though sources say none has been punished.
Radostits and Kendall were the first to arrive at the restaurant, coming from the DuPage County courthouse after a bomb threat forced the closure of the building. While other prosecutors arrived later and stayed for a lesser amount of time, Radostits and Kendall spent at least three hours there, investigators said.
Other prosecutors who were with Radostits, a respected deputy bureau chief in the office, estimated she had three to five drinks, but they told police they saw "no outward signs of impairment or intoxication."
Radostits and Kendall, who could not be reached for comment, had received permission to take the rest of the day off, officials said.
Data obtained from Radostits' Impala indicated that in the seconds before the crash, she was driving between 81 and 85 mph -- far exceeding the posted 45 mph limit, investigators said. There was no indication that Radostits tried to brake before the crash on Winfield Road, nor did she appear to be wearing a seat belt, investigators said.
"The excessive speed combined with the blood alcohol level may have given the driver of the Impala a false sense of how fast she was traveling," Detective Kevin Farley wrote in the crash report.
Phone records also indicate she apparently was making a cell phone call about the time the crash occurred, investigators said in the report.
Sheriff John Zaruba declined to comment on the crash report, except to say it had been released without prior review by Birkett's office.
Lubinski, who broke her left arm and left leg in the crash, remains "completely bedridden," her attorney said Friday.
Attorney Dennis Stefanowicz questioned why at least some prosecutors were drinking after the bomb threat closed down the courthouse.
"This wasn't a routine bomb threat," he said. "It seemed to be more of a party on behalf of the DuPage County state's attorney's office."
The Associated Press reported that according to a South Dakota highway patrol officer, “Janklow’s 1995 Cadillac has a black box, which records information such as how fast the car was going and whether the brakes were applied.” How many cars have such black boxes, and what information do they record?
Black boxes—event data recorders like the ones found in airliners—are increasingly common in automobiles and vary from one type of car to another. But cars with airbags have long had onboard computers with the sensors and software necessary to determine within 1/100 of a second that you’re in a crash; that’s how cars know when to deploy the bags. These computers, called sensing and diagnostic modules, are located inside the transmission hump, behind the dashboard, or under the seat, and constantly collect and process data on the car’s acceleration or deceleration. Airbag-equipped cars made by General Motors (which owns Cadillac) have had SDMs since 1974.
Beginning in the 1999 model year, though, GM upgraded SDMs to include an event data recorder. The newer SDMs track the car’s speed (from the speedometer), engine RPM, the exact position of the gas pedal, and whether or not the brake pedal was pressed, among other statistics. The SDM keeps the previous five seconds’ worth of this data in its onboard memory and, if the airbags are deployed, saves the most recent five seconds as a snapshot of events leading up to a possible collision. Ford and Isuzu added similar features to some models in this decade. Santa Barbara-based Vetronix sells a $2,500 “crash data recovery” gadget that will download the logs from these computers (the company lists what years and models it works with, and what data is recoverable).
estimated she had three to five drinks,
Is she either 3’ 6’ tall and 65 lbs or she did have thee to five drinks that were served in gallon mik jugs
Drunk driver prosecutes other drunk drivers, and dies driving drunk. Its sort of karmic.
Exactly what I was thinking. Using liberal logic they are just as guilty for allowing her to drink that much and then drive a car.
I must also add that the Chicago Tribune city-based rag virulently savages Republican administrations in the suburban counties at every opportunity.
Its staff writers, columnists and editorialists adhere to the MSM motto, "The Only Good Republican Administration is a Dead One".......and of course, in good MSM fashion, they do all they can to kill off the Republican party-led governments in the outlying counties, especially conservative ones.
The vast Tribune conglomerate includes ownership of the LA Slimes and the Orlando Senile.....'nuff said.
Now that the slowly-dying Chicago Fib has the golden opportunity to put a conservative State's Attorney in its sights it will be gleefully relentless.
BB-gun shots on this thread aimed at Mr. Birkett from a freeper detractor living in Moldovo, a nominally "democrat republic" country which is communist-riddled and stifles the media and human rights, are beanbag.
Beanbag in comparison to the Tribune's howitzer shells historically lobbing from Daleyland out to the Republican 'burbs.
So be patient till State's Attorney Birkett concludes the investigation. He'll do the right thing, because he's a man of character.
The Chicago Tribune will lie or slant, you can count on it.
Leni
...after she killed a pint of Wild Turkey.
Jane Radostits
Many of these freeper are like pitbulls no respecter of even their own, they appear to be all out for blood they seem to have no mercy!
Must be a lot of angst going on in their lives...
Sorry buddy but the idea that this sort of trash is allowed to prosecute others for what they do themselves is stupid.
This piece of trash endangered me and my entire family with her childish selfish antics. That other vehicle could have been me, it could have been anyone here.
Hopefully this reminds all these lawyers that they are bound by the same realities they think they govern.
I could care less about party or affiliation. You endanger my life, your the enemy.
Yep.
I know a small female that has blown a .22 before. She could still walk and talk. She drinks only whisky and is unable to get enough beer in her belly to catch a buz. She’s 4’-11.5” and 99pounds wet. I’m 180ish and I can’t match her drink for drink. She’s a bartender and gets most of her drinks free, otherwise would not be able to afford it. It is very expensive drinking that heavily in a bar.
I once new a guy that died from alcohol. His autopy showed well over .3 blood alcohol level. He routinely drank into the upper .2 range. They said it wasn’t possible for a human to get a level that high. You are supposed to be in a coma at .25 as I recall. Well, they are wrong. Before he died, he had a host of accumulated health problems though. I beleive he was committing suicide over a girl. It took 1-2 years I think.
I have no clue what you are talking about!
My reply was to robertpaulsen
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1840141/replies?c=4
Please take your angst elsewhere!
Does Charlene have any clue as to the flaming she will recieve for this astonishing bit of hypocrisy? I guess Jane removed one more dangerous driver from our roadways- the hard way.
Let’s put it in terms we can all understand. That link will only permit you to enter up to eight drinks. No more. So to get a BAC near .25 for a 120lb person, she would need to consume 8 regular beers on a one hour period of time.
I am a two hundred pound guy and can slurp down the suds as well as the next guy. But eight beers in an hour? Couldn’t do it.
She should get double the penalty as other people, because she knows the law. I fear she will get away lightly on this.
Back in college we had a long standing bet, that no one could drink a case of beer in four hours. People tried, nobody succeeded.
No kidding. Next time I'll do my own research.
You ask a question on this board and right away it's, "You stupid fool! Everyone knows that ...."
Just curious, would the actions of the other local prosecuters be regarded as a conflict of interest when it comes to prosecuting others involved in drinking and driving?
Alas, she got the death penalty.
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