Fatal Wreck Outside Eddie Merlot's Prompts Felony DUI Charge

A man who killed a woman last week when he flipped his Mercedes in the parking lot of a Burr Ridge steakhouse had downed five martinis before the wreck, according to prosecutors.

Issa N. Issa of Tinley Park is charged with felony aggravated DUI. A judge set bail at $500,000 Saturday for Issa, of the 17400 block of Cambridge Place, but Issa wasn’t in the courtroom. He remains hospitalized, according to the Chicago Tribune, with broken bones in his face.

His friend and dinner companion, Samantha J. Jacobs, 23, of Manhattan, was thrown from Issa’s car Wednesday night and pronounced dead at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Jacobs and Issa were former high school classmates out for a night at Eddie Merlot’s steakhouse, 201 Bridewell Drive, in Burr Ridge.

They left together, according to police, but returned to the restaurant to pick up Jacobs’ car. Issa lost control of his own vehicle, crashing into the restaurant at about 10:45 p.m. after he drove through a pine tree, police said.