Brookfield resident Jeffrey D. Phillips, 29, has been charged with six felony counts of driving under the influence for allegedly driving a 2003 Buick Riviera into a tree inside Jaycee/Ehlert Park, injuring himself and three others in the early morning crash on Oct. 30.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved the felony charges Nov. 3 after Phillips was released from the hospital into Brookfield police custody. He appeared at a hearing in front of Judge Carmen Aguilar at the Maybrook courthouse Thursday morning and posted 10 percent of his $50,000 bond. He remains free awaiting a preliminary hearing set for Nov. 10 at Maybrook.
A Cook County prosecutor at the bond hearing told the judge that Phillips’ blood-alcohol level was .21, or nearly three times the legal limit of .08. Medical personnel at Loyola University Medical Center drew blood samples from Phillips after the crash.
According to witnesses, Phillips’ car was headed southbound on Oak Avenue approaching Shields Avenue at a high rate of speed just after 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 30. The car blew through the stop sign at Shields and hurtled over the curb and into Jaycee/Ehlert Park, crossing a parking lot before hitting a mature tree.
All four occupants of the car sustained injuries in the crash, including a 27-year-old Chicago man who remained hospitalized as of late last week with a broken ankle, broken right shoulder blade and various cuts and bruises. Phillips and two other passengers have been released from the hospital.
One of the eyewitnesses, 24-year-old Amanda Misner, of Palos Hills, told the Landmark last week that she and her boyfriend, 24-year-old Arturo Ruiz, of Brookfield, were driving eastbound on Shields Avenue approaching Oak, when Phillips’ car came speeding through the intersection.
“It almost hit us, but we stopped in time,” Misner said, adding that it didn’t appear as if the car slowed down at all before jumping the curb and entering the park.
Misner said while Ruiz called 911 she ran to the car, which had barreled into the tree and found all four people unconscious in the vehicle.
“The two front passengers looked like they were dead,” Misner said.
Shortly afterwards, one of the backseat passengers, the 27-year-old Chicago man, exited the car on his own and collapsed behind the vehicle on the parking lot pavement.
“One guy walked out by himself and just fell behind the car because his ankle was broken,” Misner said. Police initially reported that the man had been ejected from the car, but Misner said she saw the man get out by himself.
In the meantime, Misner said, Ruiz noticed the car starting to smoke and he pulled the front seat passenger through the window to free him. Ruiz and a police officer who arrived on the scene then helped Phillips out of the driver’s seat, with the officer cutting away his seatbelt.
A female backseat passenger, despite a broken thumb and broken finger, was able to free herself from the car before it burst into flames.