Bond is $500K for Chicago cop charged in DUI crash

Bond was set at $500,000 Sunday for an off-duty Chicago police detective charged with reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence for an accident that left two people dead.

Joseph Frugoli, 41, allegedly crashed his sport utility vehicle into a car parked along an expressway Friday, killing the driver, 23-year-old Andrew Cazares of Summit, and passenger Fausto Manzera, 21, of Chicago.

After Sunday's bond hearing, the victims' friends and family were upset with the bond amount and left court speaking loudly, Cook County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Patterson said. Dozens of people spilled into the halls and there was loud shouting. Sheriff's officers pushed the crowd outside the Cook County courthouse's main entrance, where people stood yelling epithets at police.

Police took one man into custody briefly but released him without charges.

Friday's crash happened shortly before 4 a.m. along the Dan Ryan Expressway on the city's South Side. Police said Cazares' car had pulled to the side of the expressway before Frugoli struck it from behind.

Prosecutors said Sunday that Frugoli's blood-alcohol level was more than three times the legal limit for drivers at the time of the accident. He allegedly tried to flee after being helped from his vehicle by a passer-by but was apprehended quickly and taken to a local hospital, officials said.

He was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident.

Frugoli's lawyer countered that the victims' car was stopped in the right lane of traffic, not on the side. The attorney said Frugoli walked from the scene because he was disoriented. The detective is divorced and supports a 16-year-old child, the lawyer said.

Patterson said Frugoli told jail authorities that his family would be posting the $50,000 needed to bail him out.

The fatal crash was not the first car accident allegedly caused by Frugoli, who last week was ordered to pay $7,100 to a driver whose car he rear-ended on an expressway in 2005.