Bellwood Woman Gets 10 Years in DUI Crash

Victim Left Paralyzed, Unable to Communicate

WHEATON – DuPage County State’s Attorney, Joseph E. Birkett, announced today that Sandra J. Yusczak-Bunge, 54 (d.o.b. 02/02/53) of Bellwood, was sentenced today to ten years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in connection with an accident on eastbound I-88 near Naperville Road that left a construction worker seriously injured.  On March 19, 2007, Yusczak-Bunge entered a plea of guilty in front of Judge Kathryn Creswell to Aggravated Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol.

At approximately 1 a.m. on June 25, 2005, Yusczak-Bunge was driving under the influence of alcohol when she drove her vehicle into a construction zone that was closed to traffic.  It was within this closed construction zone that Yusczak-Bunge hit and seriously injured construction worker Roberto Chavez with her vehicle.  Currently, Mr. Chavez resides in a nursing home, paralyzed on one side of his body and unable to communicate due to the injuries he sustained that evening.

“Two years ago many lives were changed forever because of Sandra Yusczak-Bunge’s decision to get behind the wheel after she had been drinking,” commented Birkett.  As she learned this afternoon, that decision cost her the next ten years of her life.  Roberto Chavez and his family however, paid dearly for that decision as well.  Their lives have been turned upside down and we wish them the best as they deal with the consequences or Ms. Yusczak-Bunge’s actions.  Highway construction workers have a difficult enough job.  They should not have to worry that they could be injured or worse, killed, by a drunk driver while they are working.  Hopefully Judge Creswell’s sentence in this case will serve as a reminder for motorists to exercise caution when driving in a construction zone and to never drink and drive.” 

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