Lake Co. man gets prison for crash that cost his friend a hand

A Hawthorn Woods man was sentenced to 27 months in prison Monday after pleading guilty to the drunken-driving crash that cost his friend a hand.

Anthony Nilsson, 20, pleaded guilty to aggravated driving under the influence during a hearing before Lake County Circuit Judge John Phillips.

Assistant State's Attorney Steven Derue said Nilsson, of the first block of Princeton Court, crashed his Toyota 4-Runner around 5:30 p.m. on July 10.

Derue said Nilsson was driving on Johnson Drive in Buffalo Grove when he began deliberately swerving the car and rolled it over.

The car landed upside down, Derue said, and the crash severed the right hand of Steven Tomczyk, 19, of Long Grove, a passenger in the front seat.

Buffalo Grove police said Nilsson originally denied he was driving the car, but Tomczyk and witnesses to the crash contradicted that claim.

A bottle of bourbon and several beers were found in the car, Derue said, and both Nilsson and Tomczyk were taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville for treatment.

Tests at the hospital showed Nilsson had a blood-alcohol level of .210 percent at the time of the crash, Derue said, nearly three times the legal definition of intoxication of .08 percent.

Nilsson was also on probation for filing a false police report at the time of the crash, and that probation was terminated unsuccessfully Monday.

Derue said Nilsson could have faced up to 12 years in prison if he had been convicted after a trial, but would also have been eligible for probation.