Tina Ball made sure her summers were mostly free–that was one of the reasons she chose to work as a highway construction flagger. The job was flexible and Ball, 36, saved her summers for her family, especially the youngest members.
Playing host to annual visits by nieces and nephews that lasted weeks at a time, Ball saw the large Schiller Park home she shared with her husband, David, transformed into a private playground.
A mother of seven with a 2-year-old grandson, Ball had only recently returned to work directing traffic at a construction site on Interstate Highway 57 near 107th Street when she was struck and killed Monday by Thomas J. Harris, who police say was driving drunk on a revoked license.
“He wasn’t supposed to be driving. He doesn’t have any driving privileges,” said secretary of state spokeswoman Beth Kaufman. “Obviously, by driving, he knew he was breaking the law.”
Ball is the second woman in less than two months–the first was a 51-year-old mother of four from Rockford–to be killed on a Chicago-area highway while working as a flagger, an entry-level job held by many women.
Harris was charged Tuesday with one count of aggravated DUI in the death of another and is scheduled to appear for a bond hearing on Wednesday.
Authorities said the 41-year-old South Side man’s driver’s license was revoked in 1997, and he’s never held a valid license since.
Records from the secretary of state’s office show that Harris has been arrested six times for driving under the influence and five times for driving while his license was suspended.
A test conducted after Monday’s accident showed Harris had a blood-alcohol level of .191, more than twice the legal limit, said Illinois State Police Trooper Frank Biamonte. A near-empty 40-ounce bottle of beer and an unopened 12-ounce can of beer were recovered from inside the red 2000 Chrysler Sebring that Harris was driving, Biamonte said.
Industry outcry
Ball’s death has rekindled an outcry by those in the construction industry for increased safety measures to prevent accidents in highway construction zones.
“We’ve reduced speeds. We have higher police presence on the job. We’ve increased the fines. We’ve increased the visibility of workers out in the field. We’re doing everything we can, but I don’t think you’re going to avoid any accident when the [driver] is under the influence of alcohol,” said Al Naimoli, president of the union that Ball belonged to, Laborers Local 76.
A series of laws enacted since 2001 have toughened penalties for drivers who injure highway or emergency workers at a construction site. And in July, Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed a bill into law that allows speeding drivers who kill construction workers to be charged with reckless homicide.
Ball is the fourth highway construction worker killed in Illinois this year, and the 21st statewide fatality in highway construction zones, said Steve Kulm, Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman.
In July, Deborah Wead of Rockford was killed while working as a flagger on Interstate Highway 290 in Schaumburg. The man who struck her was later charged with drunken driving.
Last year, 31 people died in construction zone accidents in Illinois, according to IDOT.
“Everyone on the road has got to remember that we’ve got families we want to go home to,” said Jennifer Krug, spokeswoman for the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association and a colleague of Ball’s at Lemont’s K-Five Construction Corp.
Off-duty state police officers have begun patrolling highway construction sites to deter speeders, said IDOT’s Kulm. Between March and August, state police issued 3,400 speeding tickets along the 12-mile stretch of I-57 that is under construction, he said.
Seeking to augment those patrols, a proposed state House bill would require video cameras at many state highway construction sites.
“Right now, motorists don’t feel they have a high risk of being caught and punished,” said Rep. Paul Froehlich (R-Schaumburg), a co-sponsor of the bill.
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Still, four drunken-driving convictions and three convictions for driving on a suspended license didn’t keep Harris off the road. Records show he was never sentenced to jail for driving under the influence.
Arrested in March
His most recent DUI arrest was in March, two months before he was convicted in May for driving drunk on July 4, 2002. He also pleaded guilty in 1999 to felony burglary of an automobile, according to a Cook County state’s attorney spokesman. Harris was sentenced to 2 years’ probation and ordered to pay $500 in restitution, the spokesman said.
Biamonte said the Chrysler sedan was not registered to Harris and may belong to his girlfriend. The vehicle has been impounded by state police, he said.
Longtime Ball family friend Joel Brodsky said he was angered by Harris’ history of DUI arrests.
“If this guy really was a drunk driver, there is no punishment that’s severe enough,” he said. “How many chances is he going to have? What are you supposed to do, tie him up, put glue in his hands? I know this guy can’t be charged with first degree murder but he should be.”
Neighbors said Ball and her family moved to Schiller Park about two years ago and began renovating their house. In the back yard there’s a swimming pool, trampoline and basketball hoop.
“Children were her life,” said Brodsky. “You’d think it’d be a burden to have [that many] kids around. Tina loved it. It was no burden on her at all.”
Tina Ball kept a garden back there, and neighbor Joseph Damico said he shared arugula and tomatoes with her.
“She was willing to share whatever. That’s what neighbors do,” Damico said.
Workers at the scene where Ball was hit remained shocked by her death Tuesday afternoon.
“I come to work every day and every day I think, `Am I going to go back home?'” said Celia Hernandez, 40, a flagger who often worked with Ball on I-57.
“Last night I had to make a decision, [and] again today when my son asked me, `Is there anything else you can do?'” said Hernandez, who has worked as a flagger for seven years.