Mt. Prospect drunken driver gets 13 years for hitting trooper
A judge sentenced a 61-year-old Mount Prospect woman to 13 years in prison Thursday for causing a 2014 collision while intoxicated that critically injured an Illinois state trooper and sent a family of four to the hospital.
Leslie W. Thurow had a blood-alcohol concentration twice the legal limit when authorities say she caused the Sept. 6, 2014, crash while driving with a license that already had been revoked for previous drunken driving convictions.
Thurow, who has been in custody in the Cook County jail for the past two years, pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident with injuries.
In a sentencing memorandum, Cook County prosecutors urged the judge to impose consecutive sentences on Thurow in light of her previous DUI convictions, including a third conviction which came just a few days before the crash.
"It is not a question of whether her criminal acts are likely to recur," Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Dan Groth wrote in the memorandum, "but when and who will be killed or seriously injured by her actions."
Police said Trooper Michael Cokins was conducting a traffic stop at 2:45 p.m. that day on northbound Interstate 294 at North Avenue near Elmhurst. Cokins was outside his patrol car standing on the right shoulder of the road when Thurow's vehicle hit him, sending him over the hood of the vehicle he'd pulled over.
Thurow continued driving north until she struck an SUV with a family of four inside. The SUV rolled over and Thurow's vehicle hit the concrete median, police said.
Cokins suffered 15 broken bones, underwent eight surgeries and endured 17 months of therapy before he was declared medically fit to return to full duty on May 1 of this year. He has resumed his original assignment patrolling the north Tri-State Tollway.
"My hope is something positive can come from what happened to me," Cokins said in May. "I ask that our community leaders work with our legislators to enact tougher penalties for repeat DUI offenders so this doesn't happen to anyone else."
Illinois State Police took the opportunity Thursday to remind the public of the dangers of driving under the influence as well as of the Move Over Law, often referred to as "Scott's Law." Under the law, vehicles approaching a stationary authorized emergency vehicle must yield the right-of-way by making a lane change or reducing speed and proceeding with caution if changing lanes would be unsafe or impossible. Violators can be fined $10,000 and have their driver's licenses suspended for up to two years.
• Daily Herald staff writer Barbara Vitello contributed to this report