DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – A man whose daughter died in a crash pleaded guilty to a DUI charge.
Matthew Jackson, 32, entered his plea Wednesday in Macon County court. He was involved in a May 15, 2017 crash after midnight on Decatur’s Lost Bridge Road. Ava Taliferro, his 17-month-old daughter, was in the backseat of a sedan he was driving when it and a pick-up truck crashed into each other.
In a sworn statement, witnesses told police they watched Jackson throw a glass bottle containing vodka out of his car after the crash. He and Taliferro went to the hospital for treatment, where the child died after 1 a.m. that morning. The truck driver had minor injuries.
Jackson’s BAC level was .265, police say, when they looked at a blood sample taken from him. His aggravated DUI charge was a class 2 felony. He will be back in court on Jan. 9 for sentencing.
Jackson has a DUI conviction on his record from Feb. 8, 2016, when he drove with a suspended license.
