Police: Driver in fatal Lily Lake crash was drunk

A Sycamore man blamed for a double-fatal crash in Lily Lake this fall was driving with a blood alcohol concentration 2½

times the legal limit and had traces of marijuana in his system, police testified at an inquest Wednesday.

The crash, which killed 88-year-old Anita Schwake of Woodstock, happened about 1:45 a.m. on Sept. 13, when a Buick Regal driven by Evan A. Florian, 23, of Sycamore, crossed the center line on southbound Route 47 and hit an oncoming Ford Escape near Empire Road.

Kane County Sheriff's Detective Salvador Rodriguez said Florian, who died of blunt head trauma four days later, tested positive at the hospital for cannabis and registered a blood alcohol concentration of 0.208 percent, 2½

times the state's legal limit of 0.08.

Rodriguez also said Florian was driving at a "high rate of speed," and the other driver tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

Schwake, one of two back-seat passengers in the Ford Escape, was with three relatives returning from a family gathering in Champaign when the vehicles collided, throwing Florian some 30 feet, authorities said. Schwake died of blunt head and chest trauma about an hour later in the emergency room at Delnor Hospital in Geneva.

Deputy Coroner Eric West said Florian, who suffered two skull fractures and massive blood loss, was kept on life support until his family could arrange to donate his organs. He died Sept. 17.

The coroner's jury ruled Schwake's death a homicide with blame to be placed on Florian, and Florian's death an accident. He had been cited for failure to reduce speed and failure to improper lane use.