2 charged in weekend DUI crashes that killed 1, injured 8

Two drivers face drunken driving charges in separate crashes on Chicago’s South Side that injured a total of eight people and killed a 28-year-old woman.

In the fatal wreck in the Englewood neighborhood, driver Gloria A. Smith, 28, remained hospitalized Sunday afternoon as Cook County Judge Laura Marie Sullivan ordered her held on $150,000 bond.

Smith, of the 7000 block of South Claremont Avenue, has no driver’s license and she’s charged with aggravated drunken driving, driving without insurance and other traffic charges.
Smith was the driver of a Pontiac sedan that collided with an oncoming car about 2 a.m. Friday in the 7000 block of South Halsted Street. After the crash, Smith’s blood alcohol content was gauged at 0.195, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08. Officers believe the other driver was also drunk and steered over the center line, but the investigation continues.
The accident killed 28-year-old Laquesha Simmons, a passenger in Smith’s car, and sent another passenger from one of the cars to the hospital along with the driver of the other car, a 24-year-old man.

Five more people were hurt around 2:30 a.m. Saturday when a car crossed the centerline and plowed into a taxi in 5600 block of South Kedzie Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood.
The car’s driver, 19-year-old Lethanniel Barajas, was charged with aggravated drunken driving and other traffic charges. His blood alcohol content was measured at 0.093.
On Sunday, Sullivan ordered Barajas of the 1800 block of South Springfield Avenue held on $50,000.
No fatalities had been reported in that crash as of Sunday afternoon, but five people were taken to area hospitals, three in serious-to-critical condition, police said. Injuries included blunt trauma to the head and bruises, and one passenger lost several teeth