On a busy stretch of the Tri-State Tollway, a chain-reaction crash in June 2024 killed a 76-year-old woman and injured three others. More than 18 months later, the Wisconsin driver tied to that wreck has still not been charged, even as public records show a long trail of serious driving offenses that stretches back nearly two decades.
Reporters who pulled court and driving files found multiple drunk driving convictions from 2007–08 and two separate incidents where the same driver allegedly tried to flee from police. Those earlier cases, now back in the spotlight, are raising fresh questions about why the June 2024 crash near Golf Road in Des Plaines has not resulted in criminal charges.
Records detail DUIs and prior attempts to flee police
According to CBS News Chicago, Wisconsin authorities at one point labeled the driver a “habitual traffic offender” after three drunk driving convictions in 2007 and 2008. The same records, as described by the outlet, also show two earlier cases in which the driver was accused of trying to flee police.
CBS News Chicago reports that those convictions and the habitual traffic offender tag appear in court and state driving records reviewed by its newsroom. All of the documented offenses predate the 2024 crash by many years, but they are now being revisited in light of the fatal tollway collision.
Fatal I-294 crash near Golf Road
The deadly wreck unfolded on southbound I-294 near Golf Road in Des Plaines on June 7, 2024, when several vehicles were caught up in a chain-reaction crash, according to ABC7 Chicago. The Cook County medical examiner later identified the woman killed in the crash as 76-year-old Bernice Pawilan.
Illinois State Police and local crews shut down lanes on the tollway so investigators could reconstruct what happened. Three other people were reported injured in the collision, ABC7 Chicago noted.
Prosecutors opt not to bring charges
CBS News Chicago also reported that prosecutors did not file criminal charges after the I-294 crash. The outlet’s video summary points out the lack of any charging record tied to the case, while acknowledging that prosecutors have not publicly explained their decision.
That gap has helped push the driver’s earlier DUI convictions and the habitual traffic offender status back into public view. The reporting underscores that Wisconsin’s administrative actions on a driver’s license are separate from any criminal charging decisions made in Illinois after a specific crash.
How Wisconsin’s Habitual Traffic Offender label works
Under Wisconsin law, a Habitual Traffic Offender (HTO) designation can be applied when a driver racks up a set number of major or minor traffic convictions within five years. The designation triggers a five-year revocation of driving privileges, according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
The state counts offenses such as operating under the influence and fleeing or attempting to elude police toward that threshold, and it can include both Wisconsin and out-of-state convictions. The HTO tag is an administrative penalty and does not itself replace or dictate any criminal charges that might be filed in connection with a particular crash.
The newly surfaced records and the CBS review published Wednesday have pulled renewed attention back to the June 2024 tollway crash and the uncharged driver at the center of it. So far, public reporting based on court and driving files offers the most detailed look available, and there is still no public criminal case tied to the crash in records cited from Illinois State Police or local prosecutors.
