As classmates grieved Monday for a Mt. Prospect student killed in a weekend automobile accident, police were attempting to piece together details of the all-night drinking party that preceded the crash.
The teenagers who survived Saturday`s crash in Prospect Heights told police they already had been drinking until about midnight Friday when they decided to go to a Stone Park tavern that remains open all night.
The teenagers told police that they never were asked for proof of age at the tavern and that they drank until about 7 a.m. Saturday. That was less than an hour before the crash in which 17-year-old Shannon Eggert was killed and the other six slightly injured.
The 17-year-old driver faces charges of reckless homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol.
Prospect Heights Police Chief Robert Bonneville said investigators were trying to confirm the teenagers` account of the drinking party held at the tavern.
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”We have not confirmed where they were,” Bonneville said. ”We do know some reference was made to (the tavern), but I`d hate to give an establishment a bad name and find out they weren`t there.”
Both the police chief and mayor of Stone Park, a west suburb about 15 miles southeast of Prospect Heights, expressed surprise at the teenagers`
claims, saying that there had never been any problems reported at the bar, which is legally licensed to serve alcohol for 22 1/2 hours a day.
Mayor Robert D. Natale said 10 of Stone Park`s 12 taverns are licensed to operate nearly 23 hours a day.
If the information supplied by the teenagers is confirmed, criminal misdemeanor charges could be filed against the tavern for serving alcohol to minors, a spokesman for the Cook County State`s Attorney`s Office said.
”If they were serving (the minors) they shouldn`t have been,” said Geannine Eggert, Shannon Eggert`s aunt.
Eggert, a senior at Hersey High School in Arlington Heights who also was a member of Students Against Driving Drunk, was killed when the Chevy Blazer she was riding in with six 17-year-old friends went out of control, police said.
The driver of the vehicle, George Scully Jr., also of Mt. Prospect, was charged with reckless homicide, driving under the influence of alcohol, and fleeing the scene of an accident after the 7:45 a.m. crash, police said. He is to appear in the Skokie courthouse Thursday.
On Monday, students at Hersey were stunned upon hearing news of the accident over the public address system during first hour.
Several of Eggert`s friends stayed home from school, but others who learned about the death Monday were given the opportunity to express their grief to counselors, school officials said.
Senior Eric Ronzio, a member of SADD, said the accident was particularly hard to understand because of the school`s extensive efforts to discourage drinking and because of Eggert`s membership in the organization.
”We`re not just saying don`t drink and drive; we`re saying don`t drink,” he said.