Crime & Safety

Tinley Park Man Charged in Fatal ATV Crash

Bruce O. Welch Jr., 23, is charged with two counts of aggravated DUI in the 2011 death of an Indiana woman.

A Tinley Park man is free on bond after he was arrested this week in an ATV crash that killed a 23-year-old Indiana woman.

Bruce O. Welch Jr., 23, of the 7300 block of West 170th Street, is charged with two counts of aggravated DUI/accidental death, according to the Will County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities say Lauren Bussie was a passenger on a 4x4 Polaris Ranger that Welch was driving Sept. 5, 2011, on private property in the 2900 block of Watertower Place in Crete.

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"Welch lost control and it flipped," said Will County Sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer. "It pinned (Bussie) underneath.” Deputies were called at about 4:30 a.m. The Will County coroner arrived later and pronounced Bussie dead at the scene.

A group of people had been drinking at a Labor Day party earlier that day, police said. The property where the crash happened belonged to Bussie's father, but she was not living there at the time of her death. Welch was taken to St. James Hospital and Health Centers in Chicago Heights after the crash. Police said his blood-alcohol level was 0.13 when tested at the hospital.

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Welch was booked into the Will County Jail on Tuesday, April 9, after Tinley Park police executed an arrest warrant issued April 2. Bail was set at $50,000, and Welch was released after posting bond on Tuesday, according to sheriff's records.

Welch is due in Wil County court on April 16, according to court records.

Aggravated DUI/accidental death is a Class 2 felony, which a sentence of three to seven years if convicted.

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