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 longtime girlfriend and buy a house. But his life was cut short at age 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 he is eligible for release.
Hutto was on his way to the suburbs after a Blackhawks game when he pulled to the side of the highway near Cicero Avenue to change a flat tire. Prosecutors said Lara Chavez, with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit, crashed into Hutto’s disabled car, striking Hutton and one of his friends.
Witnesses told state troopers they saw Lara Chavez’s pickup swerve from the center lane to the shoulder, where it struck Hutto’s Hyundai and overturned. Hutto’s friend, also a 27-year-old man, survived the crash with a broken leg.
Lara Chavez was taken to a hospital with relatively minor injuries, 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 an alcohol test, the report said.
But hospital staff had already drawn blood while treating him. The blood sample, taken an hour after the crash, contained an alcohol content of 0.162, twice the legal limit, according to the report. Prosecutors said Lara Chavez has been cited for driving without a license four times since she came to the United States in 2005.
Lara Chavez pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI causing a fatal accident and aggravated DUI causing an accident involving bodily injury. Judge William Gamboney handed down his sentence. Lara Chavez is expected to be released on March 15, 2030, according to data from the Illinois Department of Corrections.
In a GoFundMe posted Shortly after the crash, Matthew Kahl recalled that Hutto’s “drive for perfection was borderline psychotic and awe-inspiring.”
“Nikolas was truly a pleasure to be around, he always kept everyone in check and made sure everyone had what they needed,” Kahl wrote. “Nikolas was the epitome of a perfect son, brother and friend. Nikolas was taken from us too soon and will never be forgotten.”
