Thread: Coroner confirms crash | Amy Bartelmey, Stephen Hough, Garry Weiss

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Coroner confirms crash culprit's drunkenness

BY MARISA KWIATKOWSKI
Thursday, July 31, 2008

CROWN POINT | Mario Cadena's blood-alcohol concentration was more than double the legal limit when he caused a wreck at the intersection of 101st Avenue and Randolph Street that killed himself and three others, the coroner said.

Blood tests revealed Cadena had a 0.17 blood-alcohol level during the April 29 accident, Lake County Coroner David Pastrick told The Times. Indiana's legal driving limit is 0.08.

Stephen Hough, 26, of Merrillville; Amy Bartelmey, 25, of Hobart; Cadena, 30, and Garry Weiss, 53, both of Crown Point; all died of blunt force trauma with massive internal injuries as a result of the crash, Pastrick said.

Cadena was driving west in a 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee about 10 p.m. when he crossed into the left lane to pass another vehicle and stayed there, according to a Merrillville police report. Still in the left lane, Cadena ran a stop sign and hit the passenger's side of a 1996 Chevrolet Blazer that Hough was driving north on Randolph Street, police said. Bartelmey was a passenger in the Blazer.

A 2003 Ford Mustang that Weiss was driving south on Randolph Street hit the front of the Blazer, police said.

Merrillville police said investigators found a beer bottle in Cadena's SUV following the accident, but the bottle might not have been Cadena's and could have found its way into the vehicle while cleanup crews were clearing the scene.

Bartelmey and Weiss were pronounced dead at the scene. Hough and Cadena were pronounced dead at St. Mary Medical Center in Hobart.

Cadena was driving on a suspended license obtained without a valid U.S. Social Security number, state and Lake County records show.

He was charged in 2001 with misdemeanor operating while intoxicated and operating a motor vehicle without ever receiving a license, Lake Criminal Court records show. The OWI later was amended to a count of reckless driving, to which Cadena pleaded guilty, court records show.

Cadena was charged again in 2003 with misdemeanor drunken driving, OWI with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more and unsafe lane movement, Lake Criminal Court records show. The OWI and unsafe lane movement charges were dismissed by Lake County prosecutors in return for a guilty plea to operating while intoxicated with a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.15 or more.

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