CHICAGO (CBS) – A woman has been charged with driving drunk and causing an accident left two people dead on the Eisenhower Expressway last weekend.
Ashanti Gates, 21, of Chicago, was charged Tuesday with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless homicide, as well as child endangerment.
Illinois State Police were called at 3 a.m. Sunday to the crash on westbound Eisenhower, west of Paulina Street.
A white Toyota sedan had struck the right shoulder with its hazard lights activated due to a flat tire. The three people in the Toyota had gotten out to change the tire.
Gates was driving a black Hyundai, which crashed straight into the parked Toyota and two of the people standing outside changing the tire. These two people – Erik Cox, 18, of Rolling Meadows, and Shaelyn Sherwood, also 18, of Hoffman Estates, died at the scene.
The third person in the Toyota was not hit, state police said.
A total of five people were in the Hyundai with Gates, including a 4-year-old boy, Illinois State Police said. Gates, the child and another person from the Hyundai were taken to the hospital with injuries.
The indictment against Gates was approved on Monday. She was detained Tuesday evening at the Harrison (11th) District Chicago Police station, state police said.
