Glendale Heights woman charged with DUI in fatal crash with gravel truck

A Glendale Heights woman has been charged with driving under the influence of cannabis in a 2024 crash in Addison that killed a truck driver.

Melynna Ramirez, 23, of the 1000 block of Bloomingdale Road, is charged with aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or a combination — causing death, and aggravated driving under the influence of drugs — first or second offense, according to DuPage County court records.

The charges accuse her of failing to yield while pulling out of a private driveway to turn left on the 500 block of Rohlwing Road in Addison at 2:26 p.m. on July 26, 2024. The Honda Accord she was driving hit a dump truck loaded with gravel, causing it to turn onto its side.

According to a prosecutor’s petition to detain Ramirez pretrial, she told police that she consumed cannabis earlier in the day. A blood test after the crash showed she had 25 nanograms per milliliter of blood, five times more than the legal standard for intoxication, according to the petition.

The truck’s driver, Pedro Alvarez-Arroyo, died the next day.

Ramirez was granted pretrial release on Saturday and ordered to undergo drug and alcohol evaluation and testing.

Ramirez was sentenced to two years of court supervision in February 2024 on a misdemeanor battery charge. One of the conditions of her sentence was that she not violate any criminal laws during her supervision.