Reports Coming in Case of Teen Charged in Deadly Palos Wreck

By Joseph Hosey

The accident reconstruction report for a crash that killed an Orland Park man is expected to be completed by the end of the month, a prosecutor said during a hearing Tuesday at the Bridgeview courthouse.

The driver who survived the March wreck on LaGrange Road in Palos Township, 19-year-old Nicholas Puccinelli, appeared at the hearing in Cook County Judge John Joseph Hynes' courtroom. Puccinelli faces a charge of aggravated driving under the influence in connection with the deadly crash. He is free on $250,000 bond.

Puccinelli, a college student from Burr Ridge, was taken into custody at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn after an early-morning crash near 105th Street. Puccinelli was heading south on LaGrange when he drove his 2002 GMC Denali into the northbound lane and crashed into a 2002 Nissan Sentra, police said.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Amari Dawson said at a prior hearing that the impact sent the Sentra through a guard rail. The driver of the Sentra, John Anagnopoulos, 64, of Orland Park, also was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center. Anagnopoulos died there.

Tests performed on Puccinelli at the hospital showed his blood-alcohol level was at 0.215 percent, more than two-and-a-half times the legal limit for driving, Dawson said at the earlier hearing. Puccinelli also tested positive for cocaine, marijuana, amphetamines, barbiturates and other drugs, she said.

In a statement to police, Puccinelli acknowledged drinking and ingesting both marijuana and Xanax, Dawson said.

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