A 36-year-old Tinley Park man has been charged with three counts of reckless homicide and one count of drunken driving in connection with a car accident that left three young people dead.
James Billis, of the 17300 block of Oketo Avenue, was being held Thursday at the Cook County Jail on $450,000 bond.
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Billis, who was seriously injured in the crash, had been at Loyola University Medical Center since the accident on July 3, suffering from head injuries and broken bones. On Wednesday night, Billis, with both arms in casts, was taken by ambulance to the Orland Park police station. He was then taken to the hospital at the county jail.
Orland Park police say Billis had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the state’s 0.08 legal limit when the allegedly stolen car he was driving crashed into a guardrail and plummeted into a drainage ditch last week. The accident occurred moments after an Orland Park police officer, who had been pursuing the stolen car, pulled back, police said.
Killed in the accident were three passengers: Terrence Heidegger, 24, of Orland Township; Erin Hitch, 21, of Lockport; and Richard Tracy, 23, of Orland Park.
According to police, Billis was northbound on Wolf Road when a police officer clocked him driving 65 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone. The officer, who subsequently learned that the Lincoln Mark VIII allegedly was stolen, followed the car. He activated his emergency lights, police said, but not his siren.
Police said Billis sped up and ran a red light at 147th Street. At that point, the officer pulled back because he thought a chase would be unsafe in the residential area, said Orland Park Police Chief Timothy McCarthy.
The car sped north on hilly Wolf Road. The police officer topped the hill near 141st Street and saw the car in the drainage ditch on the opposite side of the road, McCarthy said. All the passengers had been thrown from the car.
A preliminary investigation showed the car was traveling 70 m.p.h. to 80 m.p.h. when it crashed, and police said they found a cooler containing open cans of beer near the car. Billis’ blood-alcohol level was about 0.20, McCarthy said.
Police said they were unsure where the group was coming from or where they were headed. Billis has refused to talk to them, McCarthy said.
Billis was charged with reckless homicide, possession of a stolen car, driving with a suspended license, operating an uninsured car, illegal transportation of open alcohol, disobeying a red light and speeding.
Under Illinois law, each charge of reckless homicide can carry 3 to 14 years in prison. At a judge’s discretion, a person convicted of reckless homicide could be sentenced to much less time or to probation.
This week, a Will County judge sentenced a former student teacher at Sandburg High School to 4 months in jail after he pleaded guilty to reckless homicide in connection with a drunken driving accident that left a 17-year-old girl dead. Two months ago, a 21-year-old Crest Hill woman was sentenced to 6 months in jail after pleading guilty to reckless homicide in connection with a double fatality.
“All we can do is file the toughest charges possible. We cannot do anything about the sentencing,” McCarthy said.