Chicago Tribune claims that on Tuesday 24-year-old Kristen Levasseur turned herself into the Chicago police for the hit-and-run crash that occurred on June 25th. The crash happened at around 1:15 p.m. on the 400 block of West Grand Avenue.
Levasseur was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol when she hit a 32-year-old bicyclist with her car. Directly after the crash, Levasseur fled the scene and did not contact medical help or authorities.
The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for his injuries and remains there in critical condition as of Wednesday. Levasseur faces a felony charge of aggravated DUI causing an accident and a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident causing injury.
Attorney contributor Guy D'Andrea works closely with victims and their families injured or killed by drunk driver in Illinois and wondering “can you sue a drunk driver?”. Mr. Kent has offered to share his knowledge on the various legal options open to these victims.
In all 50 states, victims of drunk driving accidents have the opportunity of a filing for a personal injury lawsuit against the driver who injured them. However, in Illinois and most other states with dram shop laws, there is another legal option for victims injured by drunk drivers. In these states victims may have grounds for a dram shop lawsuit, which under certain conditions allows alcohol vendors to be held liable for providing alcohol to someone who caused an alcohol-related injury.
Victims who have been hit by drunk drivers in Illinois may have grounds for a lawsuit against the bar, club, or restaurant that served alcohol to the person responsible for causing the crash. Illinois’ liberal dram shop law states that an alcohol vendor can be held liable for injuries caused by a customer if they served alcohol to that customer. As well as if the victim’s injuries even partially resulted because of the customer’s intoxication.