Woman accused of DUI in deadly Urbana crash makes first court appearance
URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — A Champaign woman made her first appearance in court on Monday to face charges that she caused a crash that killed a 2-month-old baby last month.
Kartila Brooks appeared via Zoom in the courtroom of Judge Brett Olmstead for arraignment on four counts of aggravated DUI. Three of the counts were for causing great bodily harm, Class 4 felonies, and the fourth was for causing death, a Class 2 felony.
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'(The counts) claim that you had, within two hours of driving a motor vehicle, a THC concentration of five nanograms or more per milliliter of blood, and you were involved in a motor vehicle crash,' Olmstead explained.
The crash Brooks was allegedly involved in happened March 13 in Urbana. Police determined that a GMC Envoy did not stop at the intersection of Philo Road and Colorado Avenue and crashed into three vehicles.
'The driver of the last vehicle struck described the defendant's vehicle as flying through the intersection and becoming airborne at one point,' Assistant State's Attorney Brooke Hinman said. 'The collision was captured on surveillance video from a nearby gas station, which demonstrated that the defendant's vehicle did not slow down at a stop sign but entered the intersection at a high rate of speed.'
Hinman said on-board data from the Envoy showed it was traveling 48 miles per hour one second before the crash, and there was no attempt to apply the brakes.
One of the vehicles involved in the crash was a Chrysler minivan driven by Evelyn Huang. The GMC t-boned Huang's van, striking the middle of the driver-side sliding door.
That's where Huang's 2-month-old daughter was seated. The baby died from her injuries the day after the crash.
Hinman said Huang suffered a fracture to her neck and sternum in the crash. Huang's oldest daughter, age 10, suffered a broken arm and her middle daughter, age 9, suffered a broken collarbone and wrist.
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'Surveillance footage from a nearby apartment complex showed Evelyn's vehicle was in the correct lane of travel and captured no violations of traffic laws by the victim, Evelyn,' Hinman added.
Hinman also said that Brooks told officers that she suffers from epilepsy and that she did not recall what happened before the crash. She initially 'strongly denied' having a seizure but later claimed that she did have a seizure and just did not remember it.
Medical records, Hinman said, showed Brooks did have two prior seizures, and she had been advised not to drive until six months had passed since her last seizure. Brooks denied receiving this information.
'An officer at the crash scene noticed a strong odor of burnt cannabis in the GMC and found a partially burnt cigarello,' Hinman said. 'The defendant told officers her children drive the vehicle and often leave cannabis in it.'
A blood draw taken at the hospital, however, showed she was high. Hinman said it showed a THC level of 12.7 nanograms per milliliter of blood, double the legal limit to drive a car.
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'When confronted with these blood tests, the defendant admitted to smoking cannabis about an hour before driving and indicated she smoked a little much for her, but not too much,' Hinman said.
Urbana Police said further testing by the Illinois State Police confirmed the excessive amount of THC in Brooks' blood, and she was arrested on Friday.
On Monday, making her first court appearance, the Public Defender was appointed as Brooks' counsel, and she waived her right to a preliminary hearing. She then entered a plea of not guilty.
A pretrial hearing was scheduled for May 20. In addition, with criminal charges now filed against Brooks, Judge Olmstead dismissed the traffic tickets that had been issued to her after the crash.
On the subject of pretrial detention, a hearing on that was continued to Tuesday. Olmstead ordered temporary overnight detention until that hearing could be held.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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