Coroner's jury rules drunken driving death accidental

A 52-year-old Lake in the Hills man was drunk and tailgating when he flipped his car in Elgin on Halloween, killing himself, police say.

Glen M. Gyurin had a blood alcohol concentration of .237 percent, Elgin police officer Lawrence Jenco said Wednesday at a Kane County coroner's inquest. The legal limit for drivers in Illinois is 0.08 percent.

The coroner's jury ruled Gyurin's death as accidental.

Jenco was one of many officers who responded to a one-car rollover crash at about 8:20 p.m. on Route 20, just east of State Street. "You could smell a very strong odor of alcohol inside the vehicle," he said.

Jenco testified that witnesses said Gyurin, a precision machinist, was tailgaiting in his 1997 Ford Taurus and lost control when he tried to pass several cars.

Gyurin's car hit the median as it headed east on Route 20, swerved back and hit a guard rail and then flipped over, Jenco testified.

Paramedics tried to save Gyurin, but he had lost a lot of blood and died from head, neck and chest trauma. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Deputy Coroner Amy Renwick said she spoke to Gyurin's relatives, who said he was in good health and had not been depressed. He reared his daughter after his wife died of cancer several years ago, Renwick said.