Driver involved in fatal Oak Lawn crash found guilty of traffic violation, fined $750, sentenced to community service
Cook County Circuit Judge Diana Lopez found a driver guilty Tuesday of failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident six months after Murod Kurdi died after being struck on the 5100 block of West 91st Street in Oak Lawn.
The driver, who told police she had alcoholic drinks before getting behind the wheel, was fined $750 and sentenced to traffic safety school and community service.
The case gained attention as Kurdi’s family and many Arab American community members expressed outrage the driver was never arrested or charged with a felony and instead only faced a traffic citation.
About 50 people packed a Cook County courtroom in Bridgeview to hear police and family members share testimony and video footage. Several people wore keffiyeh and hijabs.
Kurdi, 28, of Oak Lawn, was getting out of his truck June 5, 2023, when he was struck by the car traveling 27 mph in a 25 mph zone, according to investigators.
Kurdi’s family members and supporters said they were frustrated because the driver told Oak Lawn police Officer Benjamin Tholotowsky she drank a shot of Petron Tequila and a pint of Old Style beer one or two hours before getting behind the wheel. While Tholotowsky confirmed he smelled alcohol on the driver’s breath, Tholotowsky and three other officers who were brought to testify Tuesday agreed the driver did not show signs of physical or verbal impairment.
Officers asked her to perform additional field sobriety tests and she declined, which police said was within her rights.
An Illinois State Police investigation released two months later by the Oak Lawn Police Department upheld that police lacked probable cause to arrest the driver.
“It has been a long-standing principal of law in Illinois that the odor of an alcoholic beverage alone does not constitute probable cause for an officer to believe that someone is under the influence of alcohol,” Jennifer Cifaldi, Illinois traffic safety resource prosecutor, wrote in the July 24 report.
The prosecution also noted Tholotowsky’s testimony that the driver did not immediately stop after striking Kurdi, instead stopping four to five houses down the road.
One point of contention between the prosecution and defense concerned the exterior facing video footage from the house of Kurdi’s brother Suphi, which depicted the collision. While the defense objected to the footage being presented because the video was presented in slow-motion rather than real time, Judge Diana Elena Lopez allowed the prosecution to display the images of a white Kia hitting Kurdi’s truck.
The defense argued this was an awful accident but said if the driver swerved out of the way, she would have put herself into harms way by going into oncoming traffic.
Prosecutors sought a $1,000 penalty based on Kurdi’s death resulting from the crash.
Defense attorney Bob Olson said he does not think his client will appeal the ruling.
“I think there is something highly, highly problematic within the Oak Lawn Police Department,” said Kurdi’s mother, Fadia Muhamad, during a post-trial news conference outside of the courthouse
Muhamad, has a wrongful death lawsuit pending in Cook County Circuit Court against the driver and the Oak Lawn bar where she was served, seeking damages in excess of $50,000.
The family’s attorney, David Petrich, said while the defense said the driver called 911, he has a record of calls and said no calls were placed directly from the driver’s phone.
Suphi Kurdi said he doesn’t believe the punishment fits the crime.
“I no longer have a brother but she just has to take a class and pay 750 bucks,” he said.
