Bail set at $2 million for driver charged in crash that killed recent Schaumburg High grads
An Elgin man who authorities say caused a three-vehicle crash Saturday that killed two recent Schaumburg High School graduates was ordered held on $2 million bail Monday.
Deni Rubio, 32, is charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death, reckless homicide and attempting to disarm a police officer in connection with the crash that claimed the lives of 18-year-olds Amelia Mazeikis and D'Shaun Tudela.
A GoFundMe online fundraiser to help the Hoffman Estates teens' families has raised more than $24,500 as of Monday afternoon. According to the fundraising page, the teens had been dating for more than three years and were on their way to work together Saturday morning when the crash occurred.
Prosecutors say Mazeikis was driving a gray Honda Civic, with Tudela in the passenger seat, south on Barrington Road about 8:52 a.m. Saturday when Rubio, driving a gray Dodge Durango east on Higgins Road, ran a red light at the intersection "at a visible high rate of speed." Prosecutors say he T-boned Mazeikis' vehicle, pushing it into a northbound vehicle.
Rubio's car continued south in the northbound lanes of Barrington Road over a center median, crossed into the southbound lanes and went over a curb before coming to rest in a grassy and wooded area of Barrington Road, where it was obscured by trees, said Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Aldina Vulic.
A witness walking along Barrington Road reported the crash to police. Another witness told officers the vehicle that went through the traffic light was the same vehicle in the grassy area, Vulic said.
Officers' body cameras show Rubio, who was not wearing a shirt, standing about 30 feet from the vehicle, Vulic said. When officers went to grab his right arm, he pulled away, walked back to his car and refused to step away from it, she said.
Eventually, officers got the defendant away from the car and to the ground, where he grabbed hold of a firearm ammunition magazine and refused to let go, Vulic said. Rubio placed his hand on another officer's weapon but was unable to remove it from the holster, she said.
Police then administered a "drive stun" to the defendant, Vulic said, adding "it took nine police officers to gain control of the defendant and place him into custody."
According to prosecutors, Rubio's blood alcohol content was measured at .136 percent - nearly two times the legal threshold - after his arrest. Police also recovered what they suspect is crack cocaine from his pocket, Vulic said.
Rubio, who has a pending unlawful use of a weapon charge out of Maywood's 4th Municipal District, will be on house arrest if released from custody. He is scheduled to return to court July 7.