A woman from Kenosha County, Wisc., has been charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death after law enforcement officials determined she was intoxicated when she caused a crash that killed a friend in Zion earlier this year.
Cindy Cutler, 61, has formally been charged by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office with two Class 2 felony counts of Aggravated Driving under the Influence of Alcohol resulting in Death and two Class 3 felony counts of Reckless Homicide with a Motor Vehicle for her role in the crash that killed 68-year-old Judith Kidder on March 15.
Zion Police officials said a pickup truck was stopped at a red traffic light in the northbound lanes of Green Bay Road when a second vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed hit the vehicle from behind.
Kidder was transported from the scene of the crash via ambulance to Vista Medical Center East where she was pronounced dead at 10:45 p.m., Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said.
Banek said Kidder was a passenger in the vehicle that hit the pickup.
Cutler was the driver of the striking vehicle, authorities said, and was transported to the scene to an area hospital and released.
The driver of the other vehicle was not injured in the crash.
Autopsy results show Kidder, who resided in Pleasant Prairie, Wisc., died from blunt force injuries to the head and neck as a result of the crash.
Prosecutors filed the charges against Cutler on Sept. 26. She appeared in Lake County court on Oct. 3, court records show.
Court records show Cutler admitted to police she was driving the Hyundai Elantra at the time of the crash and that the two women had been drinking before getting behind the wheel.
Police also observed the defendant had slurred speech, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from her breath, and was unbalanced while talking with police, court records show.
A preliminary breath test administered at the hospital showed Cutler had a blood alcohol level of .19, court records show. In addition, a DUI blood test kit sent to the Northern Illinois Crime Lab confirmed the defendant had a blood alcohol content of .172.
Court records show Cutler told police that her vision was blurry when she was driving and admitted it could have been from the amount of alcohol she drank before the crash.
The driver of the Ford F-150 also made a handwritten statement to police, where he said the Elantra showed no signs of slowing down before hitting the back of the pickup truck he was driving, court records show.
Based on the charges in the case, Lake County prosecutors filed a motion to detain Cutler until trial.
However, Lake County Circuit Court Judge Michael Nerheim said the woman would be released without bond under the Safe-T Act because, as defense attorneys pointed out, she didn’t pose an immediate threat to the community after the crash.
Nerheim added the Pretrial Fairness Act – better known as the SAFE-T Act – requires proof that the defendant would pose an immediate threat to public safety beyond the incident in question.
However, defense attorneys argued at the hearing that Cutler had checked herself into a mental health facility and sought help in the more than 6 months between the time the crash took place and the day of the court hearing.
Nerheim also noted that the defendant has no prior convictions before the March 15 incident.
“The state also has to show by way of the SAFE-T Act… that the defendant poses a real and present danger to a person or persons in the community,” Nerheim said. “This defendant has been in regular contact with investigators since this happened; she has been cooperative with the investigation since the beginning, and even turned herself in on a warrant when it was issued to the court.”
She is due back in court on December 8.