A trial is expected to start Monday for Lisa Damico’s second fatal crash.
Damico, 52, of Highland, who has epilepsy, is charged with reckless homicide a Level 5 felony. It carries a 1-6 year penalty.
She has pleaded not guilty. Less than six months apart, she was accused of killing two people in separate crashes in busy intersections. Both times, she denied to police she had a seizure. They found medication in her car.
In the current case, authorities said Damico ran a red light just before 9 a.m. Jan. 30, 2022 near the Highland Meijer, killing Socorro Keresztes, 70, of Munster. A crash investigator estimated Damico was driving at 93 mph, according to court records. Police found a “very large debris field.”
One of the biggest questions still left is if prosecutors can tell jurors that Damico was acquitted in July in her first crash. That crash killed Tyler Scheidt, 21, of Highland, in August 2021 as he walked to the Walgreens at Ridge Road and Indianapolis Boulevard. She drove at 85 mph.
Her lawyer Russell Brown said after that trial that the jury thought she had a medical episode, rather than consciously drove aggressively.
Even if Scheidt’s death is not brought up to the jury, lawyers believe the second crash is a stronger case.
When police responded to Indianapolis Boulevard and Ramblewood Drive, Keresztes’ silver Hyundai was half on the curb near the First Financial Bank sign, while Damico’s blue Volvo was in the Panda Express parking lot, 250 feet across the street, charges state.
Witnesses told police Damico’s car wove in and out of Indianapolis Boulevard before she appeared to go into the eastbound turn lane, did not brake before speeding through the red light and slamming into Keresztes’ car.
Witnesses flagged down an officer to Keresztes’ car. The front end was smashed and he couldn’t open the doors to help her, records state.
Damico said she “blacked out,” then woke up to see her car was wrecked, not remembering how she crashed, an affidavit states. She thought the damage was only to her car, police wrote.
A witness said she pulled over and held Keresztes’ hand until she died, an affidavit states. The crash was caught on traffic cameras.
A native of the Philippines, Keresztes, the matriarch of her family, was “gentle, caring, and selfless” and had recently retired in 2020 after working more than 25 years at Franciscan Health, an online fundraising page and her obituary said. She is survived by an adult daughter and extended relatives.
A GoFundMe page said Keresztes was headed to Meijer that morning to pick up ingredients to make banana bread.
mcolias@post-trib.com
