Car involved in fatal Deer Park wreck was returning from bachelor party

The survivor of the fatal weekend crash in Deer Park lost two of his groomsmen in the wreck, which occurred as the three were returning from his bachelor party.

Both Octavio Carrera of Palatine and Alonso Ramos-Gomez of West Dundee, who were killed in the crash, were to stand up in Eric Moreno's wedding, said Elizabeth Ramirez, a friend who went to Maine West High School in Des Plaines with the deceased.

Ramos-Gomez, who drove and was wearing a seat belt, had a .22 blood-alcohol content level, Lake County Coroner Richard Keller said. That's almost three times the state's legal limit of .08.

Toxicology tests on the Jozef Zwalinski of Palatine, the driver of the Yellow Cab Co. taxi also involved in the crash, and who also died, came up negative, Keller added.

Zwalinski, 51, was driving his cab east on Lake-Cook Road near Park Hill Drive around 5:10 a.m. Saturday when it collided head-on with the Lexus driven by Ramos-Gomez. It took four hours to extricate the victims from the wreckage. Both drivers were pronounced dead at the scene, while doctors pronounced Carrera dead at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital near Lake Barrington.

Moreno suffered a broken leg and was released later Saturday from Good Shepherd, hospital spokesman Mike Deering said.

Friends said Carrera, 23, and Ramos-Gomez, 22, grew up in Des Plaines, graduated in 2004 from Maine West and earlier attended Algonquin Middle School in Des Plaines. Those who knew them said they were more like brothers than cousins and almost inseparable. The two took classes at community college, and Carrera recently took a job at a Cricket cell phone store in Palatine.

Ramirez didn't know when Moreno's wedding was scheduled for or if it'd been postponed. She remembers the cousins as regulars at social functions.

"They had a very great sense of humor. They were always happy and full of life," she said.

They also leave behind many mourning friends. Ramirez added she was even more shocked about the apparent circumstances of the crash, saying Ramos-Gomez wasn't known as a heavy drinker.

Cmdr. Robert Zujewski of the Kildeer police, which serves Deer Park, said Monday the investigation of the crash continues.

Funeral arrangements for the three were not immediately available. Efforts to reach Zwalinski's family weren't successful. The Yellow Cab Co. also declined to comment.