A Racine woman is improving after being taken by Flight for Life Saturday night as a result of a drunk driver hitting her car head-on at a high rate of speed.
Josue Javan-Estudillo, 24, was charged Monday in Racine County Circuit Court with one felony count each of intoxicated use of a vehicle to cause great bodily harm and hit and run causing injury. If convicted, he faces up to 13-1/2 years in prison or up to $35,000 in fines.
Head-on collision
According to the criminal complaint, a woman in a Nissan SUV had the green light at the corner of 14th and Racine Streets, and the black Jeep Cherokee driven by Javan-Estudillo was going northbound when he ran the red light and hit the Nissan head-on at a high rate of speed. Javan-Estudillo ran from the scene and was apprehended a short distance away. He admitted he was walking away from the accident but later changed his story and said the Nissan hit him. Javan-Estudillo was transported to the hospital for an evidentiary blood draw, and the results were not yet available for his initial appearance.
The woman had to be extricated from her vehicle, due to the outcome of the head-on collision, and was flown by Flight for Life to Froedtert Hospital with life-threatening injuries. Sources close to her family told Racine County Eye she was placed in a medically-induced coma in the early hours of Sunday morning. Reports Monday afternoon indicate medical personnel were cautiously optimistic after the woman was able to open her eyes and say a few words.
Javan-Estudillo was assigned a $20,000 cash bond and ordered to not possess or consume alcohol. He will next be in court on August 3 for his preliminary hearing.
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