CHICAGO (STMW) — A third-year University of Chicago Law School student died of injuries she suffered in a head-on crash caused by a wrong-way driver on downtown Lake Shore Drive early Friday.
Laura Anne LaPlante, of Hancock, New Hampshire, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 6:33 p.m. Friday, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
LaPlante, 26, was a law student at the University of Chicago who was on track to graduate this summer, according to Steve Koppes, a UC spokesman.
Alcohol is thought to have been a factor in the crash that happened about 2 a.m., when a Subaru SUV traveling south in the northbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive near Randolph Street struck a taxi head on as it was carrying two passengers, LaPlante and a 25-year-old man, authorities said.
All four — the two passengers and two drivers — were initially hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition, officials said.The taxi driver and passengers were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, while the driver of the SUV was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County, police said.
Charges were pending Saturday afternoon, police said.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2014. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
