DRIVER OF MOTOR VEHICLE ALLEGED TO HAVE CAUSED FATAL CAR ACCIDENT FACES CHARGES IN CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, CENTRAL ILLINOIS
Following a short hearing on Friday, a Champaign County judge held that a rural Champaign woman who is charged with causing a fatal collision will have a $5 million bond. Drewes, 53, who lives at the 1000 block of Churchhill Downs Drive in Champaign, was arraigned Monday on charges of aggravated driving under the influence and reckless homicide. She is accused of driving under the influence on Interstate 74, and causing serious injury to Zachary Acton, 24, of Collison, and the death of his 8-year girlfriend and fiance, Brittany K. Babb, 24, of Ogden.
Drewes appeared before Klaus via video from the satellite jail. She was wearing the green gown given to inmates on suicide watch. She asked Klaus if she could make a comment but he refused to let her. Despite objection by her attorney, Judge Rich Klaus ordered that if Elizabeth Drewes were to raise the $500,000 cash (IL bonds typically require a10% cash tender) she needs to win her release from jail, she must wear an alcohol intake monitor.
During the bond hearing, State's Attorney Julia Rietz cited that Champaign County sheriff's deputies and firefighters had been to Drewes' home in north Champaign seven times since Sept. 22. Several of those reports cited that Drewes was so intoxicated that she had hurt herself. Reitz specifically noted that on one occassion in November, she was admitted to Carle Foundation Hospital for injuries sustained during one of her alleged drunken episodes. Rietz also told Klaus about Drewes' arrest for driving under the influence on Sept. 30 on I-57 near Thomasboro. In that crash, her vehicle, the only one involved, sustained heavy damage but she didn't know how it happened. Her blood alcohol concentration after that crash was 0.31 percent, which Rietz cited as almost four times the legal limit for an Illinois motorist. Urbana attorney Harvey Welch represents Drewes on that case. Rietz also cited that Champaign police and sheriff's deputies had been looking for Drewes on Friday before the crash because of alleged telephone threats she had made against a local financial adviser.
Immediately following the collision that killed Miss Babb and severely injured Actons, Drewes was taken to Carle Hospital, where her blood and urine samples were forcibly taken after she refused to give them voluntarily. At the scene of the fatal accident, Troopers reported that Drewes had bloodshot, glassy eyes, smelled strongly of alcohol and admitted to police she had been drinking vodka earlier in the day. Despite this admission, Rietz noted that Drewes became combative with Illinois State Troopers and resisted arrest.
At the time of impact, Drewes was reportedly driving westbound in the eastbound lanes of I-74 between Neil Street and Lincoln Avenue. Her vehicle then collided head-on with the car driven by Acton. Investigation revealed that Drewes apparently got on the interstate at Lincoln. After the collision, her Cadillac Escalade reportedly caught fire; however, a passing motorist assisted in getting her out. Rietz advised Judge Klaus that Drewes' finger was cut, but she was otherwise uninjured.
Assistant Public Defender Elaine Gehrmann requested that Judge Klaus lower the bond, citing that Drewes is employed at Combe Laboratories in Rantoul. Klaus refused to do so noting the prior alcohol related events.
Local media reports noted that Acton remained at Carle Hospital Monday afternoon, and that his condition was improving. Acton reportedly sustained a broken arm, cracked ribs and other unspecified injuries in the crash that killed his girlfriend of eight years, whom he intended to marry in August.
Family advised the local media that Miss Babb's visitation was set for Monday night at the Lux Memorial Chapel in Rantoul. Her funeral was scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Penfield.
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