CHICAGO — Nikolas Hutto served four combat tours in the Marine Corps before moving to the Chicago suburbs from Florida in the summer of 2023 with plans to marry his long-time girlfriend and buy a home. But his life was cut short at the age of 27 when a drunk driver killed him on the Stevenson Expressway last April.
The driver, Octavio Lara Chavez, has pleaded guilty in the case and is now serving a seven-year prison sentence. He must spend 85% of that time behind bars before becoming eligible for release.
Hutto was heading to the suburbs after a Blackhawks game when he pulled to the side of the expressway near Cicero Avenue to change a flat tire. Prosecutors said Lara Chavez, with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, slammed into Hutto’s disabled car, causing it to strike Hutton and one of his friends.
Witnesses told state troopers they saw Lara Chavez’s pickup swerve from the middle lane to the shoulder, where it crashed into Hutto’s Hyundai and rolled over. Hutto’s friend, also a 27-year-old man, survived the crash with a broken leg.
Taken to a hospital for relatively minor injuries, Lara Chavez had bloodshot, glassy eyes and admitted to drinking two beers, according to his arrest report. He refused to take a breath test or have blood drawn for alcohol testing, the report said.
But hospital staff had already drawn blood as they treated him. Taken an hour after the crash, the blood sample came back with an alcohol level of .162, twice the legal limit, according to the report. Prosecutors said Lara Chavez had been cited four times for driving without a license since coming to the United States in 2005.
Lara Chavez pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI causing a fatal accident and aggravated DUI causing an accident with bodily harm. Judge William Gamboney handed down his sentence. According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, Lara Chavez is expected to be released on March 15, 2030.
In a GoFundMe posted shortly after the crash, Matthew Kahl remembered Hutto’s “drive for perfection was borderline psychotic and awe-inspiring.”
“Nikolas was truly a joy to be around, always keeping everyone in check and ensuring everyone had what they needed,” Kahl wrote. “Nikolas was the embodiment of a perfect son, brother, and friend. Nikolas was taken too early from us and will never be forgotten.”
