Crime & Safety
Crane Company Fires Man Charged In Fatal Fox River Crash: Statement
Richard Stevenson faces reckless homicide and DUI charges in McHenry County.
BOLINGBROOK, IL — Bolingbrook-based Stevenson Crane Service has terminated the employment of Richard Stevenson, the Lisle man charged in a fatal drunken boating crash that killed a woman on the Fox River, the company announced Tuesday.
Stevenson worked in the company's equipment sales department and "held no leadership role, had no involvement in company operations and no ownership interest in the company," according to a statement.
A since-removed LinkedIn page for Stevenson listed him as a vice president of the company.
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Stevenson, 45, remains in custody on reckless homicide and aggravated DUI charges stemming from Saturday's crash. Prosecutors allege he was traveling at least 80 mph in a no-wake zone when he lost control of his boat, rode over the top of a smaller vessel near 1819 S. Fernwood Lane in McHenry and fled the scene, according to court documents.
A passenger on the smaller boat, 48-year-old Magdalena Jablonska of Des Plaines, was killed in the crash, authorities said. A man on board the boat, who prosecutors identified as Jablonska's husband, was taken to the hospital in critical condition and placed on life support, according to media reports.
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"A tragic incident occurred this weekend involving Richard Stevenson and we offer our sincerest condolences to the victims' families and loved ones," Stevenson Crane Service said in its statement.
On Monday, a McHenry County judge ordered Stevenson held in jail pending trial. Prosecutors argued he posed a danger to the community because of his criminal history, which includes prior DUI and reckless driving convictions, and the circumstances of Saturday's crash.
Prosecutors also said Stevenson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.20—more than twice Illinois' legal limit for operating a watercraft—after allegedly spending the day drinking while boating on the Chain O' Lakes and Fox River.
"This man was a ticking time bomb, and that bomb went off this past Saturday on the Fox River," Deputy Chief Brian Miller of the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office said during Monday's detention hearing.
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