The lone survivor of a two-car crash on Gilmer Road near Wauconda has been charged with reckless homicide for driving while allegedly drunk, authorities said Monday.
The 39-year-old McHenry man, Robert Birck, was driving west on Gilmer just north of Callahan Road last Tuesday when his car crossed the center line and collided with an eastbound car driven by Cheryl Martin, 33, also of McHenry, Lake County sheriff’s police said.
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Martin, who was driving to work, was pronounced dead at the scene at 11:10 p.m. Birck was taken to Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry, where he remained in good condition Monday.
“They have orders not to release him without calling the police,” said Mike Mermel, chief of felony review for the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office. He said a grand jury will determine whether to indict Birck on the charges.
Investigators declined to release Birck’s blood-alcohol content, derived from a sample taken after the crash. But Sheriff’s Department Deputy Chief Stan Iwan said, “It’s positive and over the legal limit.”
And while many motorists believe a driver’s blood-alcohol level must reach the legal limit of .10 to be charged with such a crime, prosecutors are only obligated to establish that a driver is impaired by alcohol, in any amount, at the time of a fatal incident, he said.
The maximum penalty for a reckless homicide charge involving alcohol is 14 years in prison, Mermel said.