Charges against an East Chicago motorist suspected of hitting a construction worker on I-94 on April 30 have been upgraded after the worker died, the Porter County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said.

Ricardo Bustos, 21, had originally been charged with five felony counts, the most serious of which was a Class B felony—punishable by a term of six to 20 years—of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in serious body injury or death while operating while intoxicated.

Bustos had also been charged with two Class C felonies, punishable by a term of two to eight years; and two Class D felonies, punishable by a term of six months to three years.

With the death on Sunday of construction worker Roger A. Sadler, however, the two Class C felonies have been upgraded to Class B; and the two Class D felonies to Class C, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Bennett told the Chesterton Tribune on Tuesday.

According to the Indiana State Police, at 3:30 a.m. Friday Bustos was eastbound on I-94 when he made an illegal U-turn at a crossover, then proceeded westbound through a work zone between the Porter/Burns Harbor and Chesterton exits. At the 23.1 mile marker, Bustos struck Sadler, who was filling cracks between the closed middle and left lanes, carrying Sadler “for approximately 35 feet” before he was thrown from the car, police said. Bustos then fled the scene but was apprehended later in the morning at his East Chicago residence, police said.

Bustos and a friend had been drinking at Club 390 before being ejected, then apparently hit some more bars before the accident, police said. Bustos advised police on being interviewed that he thought he’d struck a construction barrel.

This is the third fatal accident involving a construction worker since March 16, when on the same day Christopher Jenkins, 45, of Valparaiso, was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver on I-80 in Lake County; and Bryan K. Marzullo, 38, also of Valparaiso, was struck by a woman on Calumet Ave. in Valparaiso.

Posted 5/6/2010