Lockport cop gets six years for fatal DUI crash

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

BRIDGEVIEW — A Lockport police officer was sentenced to six years in prison Monday for a December 2009 DUI crash that killed a 29-year-old man on Interstate 55.

Eddie Stapinski had bloodshot eyes, reeked of alcohol and spoke with slurred speech after crashing into Mike Wong of Chicago on Dec. 20, 2009, prosecutors said. His car was going 80 mph when it struck and killed Wong, they said Dec. 22, when he was ordered held on $750,000 bond.

Stapinski was initially charged with reckless homicide and aggravated DUI, but pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated DUI and was sentenced to six years by Judge Colleen Hyland, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin said.

Lockport police did not return calls seeking Stapinski’s current status with the department.

Stapinski was drinking at West End, a bar at 1326 W. Madison, while watching a Blackhawks game the night of the crash, sources said.

At his bond hearing, prosecutor John Carroll said Stapinski, 36, told police he was driving 80 mph southbound on I-55 near Cicero when he hit the median, launching his car into the northbound lanes.

Stapinski admitted drinking “a few beers” between 6 and 9 p.m. that night, and a witness saw him weaving in traffic shortly before the 9:35 crash, Carroll said.

The first trooper at the accident noticed Stapinski seemed drunk, but he refused a Breathalyzer, Carroll said. A test taken at the emergency room soon after showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.223 — nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Stapinski was initially placed on paid leave pending an internal investigation by Lockport police.

Wong, a Chinese immigrant and IT worker, was driving home from his second job when Stapinski’s vehicle veered across the median and crashed into his vehicle head-on.

Pulled from the wreckage of his mangled car, Wong died less than an hour later at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.