Wife of Chicago teacher seeks justice after husband killed in traffic crash

CHICAGO – Allan Nunez and Sofia Pappas bought married in a civil service in December 2020.

Sofia gave beginning to their first baby the following month

“My husband was 32 years outdated. He had simply begun his life. He had simply had his son. We had simply gotten married and have been planning our church marriage ceremony,” mentioned Pappas.

That wedded bliss was minimize brief when Allan went for a motorbike trip on Could 14, 2021.

“I used to be simply so…drowning in my devastation as a result of my son misplaced his father and I misplaced my soulmate,” mentioned Pappas.

In response to the Chicago Police report, the Lincoln Park highschool instructor was within the 900 block of West Grand Avenue when he was hit by the motive force of an oncoming SUV.

Allan was rushed to Stroger Hospital, the place he died a short while later. 

“The judicial system was that final shred of hope that I had, that a minimum of the system would be certain that penalties have been carried out,” mentioned Pappas.

Sofia’s hope was crushed in July, when she and her legal professional came upon the site visitors prices filed in opposition to the opposite driver had been dismissed. 

“Precisely what occurred was, the SAO needed one other continuance, however the decide mentioned, ‘You’re out of luck. You have requested for too many, and in addition to the speedy trial act is up, you both gotta put up or shut up,'” mentioned Philip Corboy, accomplice at Corboy and Demetrio.

Corboy is Sofia’s legal professional within the civil wrongful demise swimsuit she has filed in opposition to the opposite driver.

He’s additionally a former Cook dinner County Assistant State’s Lawyer.

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“That is what’s so loopy about this. I do not perceive the way it was allowed to occur,” mentioned Corboy. “It wasn’t like no person knew about it.”

Chicago police gave the opposite driver, John Lawson, three tickets instantly following the deadly motorcycle-SUV crash for failure to scale back velocity, failure to obey a cease sign and no legitimate driver’s license. 

Since Allan handed away after being taken to the hospital, what’s attention-grabbing to notice is not one of the tickets issued on the scene even point out bodily damage. 

“This could have been flagged as one thing we in our business name a ‘heater case,’” mentioned Corboy. “There is a useless physique proper right here, it was provoked by unhealthy driving on behalf of the defendant. He is had issues prior to now along with his driver’s license and his conduct behind the wheel of a automotive.”

After receiving the site visitors tickets, Lawson invoked his proper to a speedy trial, which requires that it occur inside 160 days. 

His trial was on the docket to begin July 19.

“It has been talked about to me that the workplace is overwhelmed,” mentioned Corboy. “They do not have sufficient assistants, assistant state’s attorneys, and so they simply haven’t got the personnel to cope with most of the instances that find yourself of their lap.”

Within the time main as much as Lawson’s trial date, Corboy says he spoke with three completely different assistant state’s attorneys, who had been assigned to this case. 

“The excuse is at all times that, effectively you recognize, once more, we’re understaffed, and the law enforcement officials routinely simply do not present up although we had subpoenas on the law enforcement officials on this case,” mentioned Corboy.

Corboy says he tried to assist the state’s legal professional’s workplace in the summertime of 2021 by sharing video of the accident obtained from a close-by enterprise.

“There was a whole lot of proof on this explicit case. There was pictures that accompanied the videotapes, it was a simple case,” mentioned Corboy.

To make issues worse, when Sofia filed her wrongful demise civil swimsuit in opposition to Lawson, his insurance coverage firm claims they are not liable for any damages as a result of Lawson didn’t have any legal responsibility protection on his SUV on the time of the accident.

Additionally, Sofia and her legal professional say they did not hear from the Cook dinner County State’s Lawyer’s workplace concerning the case being dismissed. 

They came upon on their very own when they checked the case standing.

“I made a cellphone name. Talked to an assistant. I prompt any person discuss to a supervisor to see what, if something, may be finished. By no means obtained a cellphone name again,” mentioned Corboy.

FOX 32 stopped by Lawson’s Des Plaines deal with to ask him concerning the accident.

Nobody answered the door.

“It is like Allan’s life did not matter. They simply let the case be dropped? That is so irresponsible,” mentioned Pappas.

The Cook dinner County State’s Lawyer’s Workplace supplied the next assertion: 

Misdemeanor site visitors offenses associated to this Could 14, 2021, incident have been straight filed by police after an investigation by the CPD Main Accidents Unit.  The CCSAO was not contacted to overview this matter for felony prices and moved ahead with the prosecution of the misdemeanor case based mostly on the out there info, circumstances, and the relevant legislation.

On July 19, 2022, the defendant demanded trial, nonetheless, the witnesses associated to this incident weren’t in courtroom.  Prosecutors requested the courtroom for a continuance, which was denied.  Primarily based on that ruling, we couldn’t transfer ahead with the trial and the case was dismissed by the courtroom.

The CCSAO is dedicated to the work of justice, and we’ll overview any extra data that is delivered to us by police to find out if additional prices are applicable. 

FOX 32 reached out to Chicago Police about this case, however have but to listen to again.