Man facing DUI charges for crash that killed two friends

A man has been charged with several counts of aggravated DUI for causing a crash that killed two friends early Monday near southwest suburban Lemont, according to police.

The driver of the vehicle, 23-year-old Stephen Rodriguez of Oak Lawn, appeared in court Wednesday in Bridgeview, and was ordered held on a $500,000 bond on four counts of aggravated DUI causing death, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.

About 1 a.m. May 1, sheriff’s deputies responded to a crash on 107th Street, about a mile west of 104th Avenue in unincorporated Palos Township, and found a black 2015 BMW on its side, according to the sheriff’s office.

Reginald Edward Albert Leslie, 28, of Evergreen Park, was found trapped under the front of the vehicle, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A front-seat passenger, Piotr Przeslica, 22, of Hickory Hills, was found unresponsive, and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he was pronounced dead at 1:58 a.m., authorities said.

Both died of multiple injuries suffered when the vehicle struck a fixed object, the medical examiner’s office said.

Rodriguez was found responsive and was taken at a hospital, but suffered only minor injuries, police said. Detectives later learned Rodriguez was intoxicated at the time of the crash.