Naperville man gets 25 years for fatal DUI in Iowa

A former Naperville man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for a fatal drunken driving crash in northern Iowa, authorities said Wednesday.

James Bollinger, 51, had pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the Aug. 13, 2010, death of 51-year-old Timothy Wurtzel.

Wurtzel, of Hanlontown, Iowa, was killed when his motorcycle was struck by Bollinger’s vehicle in a construction zone in Mason City, Iowa, just south of the Minnesota border.

After the crash, Bollinger registered a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal threshold of 0.08 and admitted he had drank as many as five martinis at a tavern, also in Mason City, prosecutors said.

Bollinger, formerly of Dewes Lane in Naperville, faced a mandatory 25-year term but could be paroled early under Iowa sentencing laws, said Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen. Bollinger also was ordered to pay $150,000 to Wurtzel’s family and about $7,000 to a fund for crime victims.

At an emotional hearing Monday, Bollinger apologized to Wurtzel’s relatives, who said they forgave him, according to Dalen.

“It was one of those moments you don’t see very often,” Dalen said. “There’s no question he took responsibility.”

Bollinger had no known prior criminal history, Dalen said.