A 19-year-old drunk driver who killed a 71-year-old grandmother on an Illinois highway has been sentenced to 12 years in prison. Caleb Lawson received 10 years for aggravated DUI and 2 additional years for leaving the scene of the October 2025 crash that took the life of Alice Fulks. According to witnesses, Lawson was speeding and driving erratically on U.S. Route 150 before his Ford Taurus crossed the double center line and struck Fulks’ Ford Fiesta head-on. His blood alcohol level was 0.125, well above the legal limit of 0.08.
The sentence comes with strict terms: Lawson must serve 85% of the DUI portion and 50% of the leaving-the-scene portion, with credit for 318 days already served in custody. The case has renewed conversations about the serious legal consequences that follow when a driver flees the scene of a fatal crash, even before sentencing on the underlying DUI charge.
For those of us here on the Suncoast, where seasonal traffic turns our highways and bridges into some of the busiest stretches in the state, this story lands close to home. Every year, drunk driving crashes take lives that didn’t have to be taken, and behind every headline is a family left picking up the pieces. Fulks was described in her obituary as a loving grandmother, the kind of person who anchored a family and a community.
What would it take for our community to truly cut down on impaired driving? Share your thoughts with us.
