Man gets 6 years for driving drunk in fatal 2014 Dan Ryan crash

SHARE Man gets 6 years for driving drunk in fatal 2014 Dan Ryan crash
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Richard Ramkhalawan | Cook County sheriff’s office

A Chicago man was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to driving drunk in a 2014 crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway that left a woman dead.

Richard Ramkhalawan pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated DUI in an accident causing death on Wednesday before Judge Neera Lall Walsh, according to Cook County court records.

Ramkhalawan was driving north on the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-94) when he struck a Jeep near 87th Street about 7 p.m. Sept, 27, 2014, according to prosecutors.

The Jeep left the road and rolled over, authorities said at the time. The driver, 44-year-old Anne Marie Schafer of the 200 block of West Berwyn Avenue, died of blunt force trauma injuries later that night at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Ramkhalawan, 35 at the time of the crash, stayed at the scene and admitted drinking some beers at a family gathering before the crash, authorities said.

He was taken to St. Bernard Hospital, where a blood determined he had a blood-alcohol level of .305, authorities said. The legal limit is .08. He also did not have a valid driver’s license.

Judge Walsh sentenced Ramkhalawan to six years in prison Wednesday, according to court records. He will receive credit for 1,213 days served in the Cook County Jail. He will also have to serve two years of supervised release.

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