An Alsip woman charged in the Tinley Park crash that killed 18-year-old Megan Elam on Saturday is facing $150,000 bail to get out of jail while her case is pending.
That means the family of Sarah Lavko, 21, will have to come up with $15,000 for her release from the Cook County Jail.
Elam’s father thinks that’s a small price.
“That ain’t nothing,” Bill Elam, of Alsip, said Tuesday. “It’s costing me more than $13,000 to bury my daughter. At least their daughter will still be around. Mine’s never coming back.”
Megan Elam, of Alsip, died from injuries received when she was thrown from a car Lavko was driving Saturday night after leaving a concert by rapper Lil Wayne at the First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre in Tinley Park.
Lavko was charged Tuesday with reckless homicide and aggravated drunken driving, both felonies, in connection with the one-car crash at 11:38 p.m. in the 6200 block of 183rd Street, police said.
A call to Lavko’s residence seeking comment was not returned.
Preliminary investigation determined Lavko’s blood-alcohol count was 0.197, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, said Andy Conklin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Police Cmdr. Steve Vaccaro said an open bottle of liquor was found in the car.
Circuit Court Judge Peter Felice set Lavko’s bail during a hearing Tuesday afternoon at the Bridgeview courthouse, Conklin said.
Vaccaro said witnesses told police the car left the roadway and “flipped over four or five times” before settling on Cook County forest preserve land on the north side of 183rd Street.
Two of the other three passengers who were in the car remained hospitalized Tuesday, police said.
Lavko’s next court date is set for 9 a.m. Sept. 7 at the Bridgeview courthouse. Elam’s parents, Bill and Debbie Elam, plan to be there, as they were at Tuesday’s hearing.
Megan Elam had been picked up at her home Saturday evening by a friend, Bill Elam said. That friend knew Lavko, who drove the girls to the concert, he said.
Seen in court Tuesday, Lavko “looks like a normal kid who made some bad, bad decisions,” Bill Elam said.
After the concert, Lavko apparently gave a ride to two young men. One was a friend of Elam’s, her father said. That young man came to the Elam house Monday night to express his condolences.
“It happened. You can’t turn the clock back,” Bill Elam said of the fatal crash.
The youth wrote the following tribute to Elam on his Facebook page Monday:
“It’s hard to explain in words how good of a person you were, but you were an amazing and beautiful person. Every time we hung out you always had a big smile on your face. Always. You were always a happy and loving person. Its not fair that God took you over me. You didn’t deserve to die. You were too good of a person, but you’re in a better place now and even though you’re not here with us you’re still with us at heart. We all loved you and still do so much. R.I.P. Megan.”
Visitation for Megan Elam will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at McGann & Son Funeral Home, 10727 S. Pulaski Road, Chicago.
Vaccaro said the investigation continues.
