A man was arrested Feb. 22 in Riverside in connection with felony DUI charges after a patrolling officer saw the man driving on the sidewalk and grass next to the road.
Around 2:15 a.m., the officer was driving north on South Harlem Avenue when they saw the man heading the other direction while driving on the sidewalk and grass in front of Star Buds, a cannabis dispensary, at 2704 S. Harlem Ave., police said. When the officer U-turned to follow the man, he began speeding while still driving on the grass for about 50 feet before continuing on the roadway. The man’s car then turned right onto Longcommon Road before he parked at the Shell gas station at that intersection and exited the vehicle with his hands up.
According to police, the officer noticed the man was only able to understand Spanish after making contact with him, at which point they requested a translator. A North Riverside officer later arrived to translate the conversation. During conversation, the man handed the officer his passport and said he did not have a driver’s license. Police did not report which country the man’s passport was from. After handing over his passport, the man began to cry and apologize, police said. When the officer asked the man if he had drunk alcohol, the man said he had had two beers and explained he had initially sped away from the officer because he was scared.
When the officer ran the man’s information through the police database, the search did not return any results for him, police said. The officer also ran the man’s license plates through the database, which revealed they were registered to another car; when they ran the car’s VIN through the database, the officer found its registration was expired.
During field sobriety testing, the officer noticed multiple indicators of impairment. The man consented to taking a preliminary breath test, which showed .206 blood alcohol content, more than double the legal limit. At that point, the officer arrested the man for driving under the influence and brought him to the station for booking. The man’s car was later towed and, during an inventory, an open beer can with liquid inside was found in the car, police said. At the station, the man’s charges were upgraded to felony aggravated DUI charges. A court date was set for Feb. 29 and the man was released to his family.
Arrested for driving drunk after turning over train tracks
A woman was arrested Feb. 20 in North Riverside for driving drunk after a Riverside police officer on patrol saw her make an illegal turn over the train track crossing on South Harlem Avenue.
According to police, the woman used the crossing to turn across the otherwise divided roadway late that night. After she turned, the officer saw the woman run the red light at the intersection with West 26th Street just north of the railroad, and the officer pulled her over after the intersection with West 25th Street.
When the officer asked the woman for her license and proof of insurance, she provided an Illinois ID and receipt of payment for insurance; at the same time, the officer smelled the odors of alcohol and cannabis coming from the woman’s breath and her car, police said. The woman said she had been out with her friends that night for her birthday but denied consuming alcohol. When the officer ran the woman’s information through the police database, they found she had no Illinois license and only an expired permit.
During field sobriety tests, the woman presented several indicators of impairment, including struggling with her balance and failing to follow test instructions, police said. The woman consented to a preliminary breath test but “did not provide a sufficient sample” to detect her blood alcohol content.
After the tests, the officer arrested the woman for driving under the influence. When her car was inventoried, a bottle of tequila and an empty shot glass were found, police said. The woman’s car was later towed by District Towing. After being brought back to the station, the woman took another breath test, which showed .159 blood alcohol content, police said. The woman was booked on DUI charges before being released to a friend.
Arrested for domestic battery
A Brookfield man was arrested Feb. 25 after family members told police he hit one of his daughters and threatened to throw boiling water on another.
According to police, the man’s daughter and her sister’s husband, who both live with the man and other family members, went to the police station that morning to tell police about the two incidents. In the past, they had made “numerous reports” about the man related to mental health issues he’s dealing with, police said.
Earlier that morning, the man’s daughter got into an argument with her father in the kitchen, which was the first incident. The man’s other daughter and her husband saw the argument unfold. The man was boiling water to make tea when it started; during the argument, the man’s daughter said, the man made a comment about controlling himself so he wouldn’t throw the boiling water on her. The man’s other daughter took the kettle away from him. Later that day, the man used his other daughter’s car, which is entirely in her name, to go to church in Hinsdale without her permission using a car key she did not give him.
The second incident occurred the night before, police said, when the man’s daughter and son-in-law said he and his other daughter got into an argument around midnight while they were alone. During the argument, the man slapped his other daughter across the face, so she pushed him from the kitchen out of the back door of the house in self-defense. She did not call the police at that time. While the man’s daughter and son-in-law who spoke to police were not present for the argument, they each said the man’s other daughter told them about him slapping her the next morning.
After the man’s family told police about the two incidents, police later went to the house when the man was back home. The man told officers he had been holding the tea kettle that morning during the first argument and had made a comment about needing to calm down, but that he had had no intention of throwing water. He also admitted to slapping his other daughter the night prior, saying he did so because she cursed at him. He said she punched him and pushed him out of the house after he slapped her, but officers did not see any marks on the man, police said. The officers also had the man turn over his key to his other daughter’s car, which they later returned to her.
Officers also spoke with the man’s other daughter at the house, who said she did not punch her father the night before and only pushed him out of the house so he couldn’t slap her again, police said. She also told police she wished to sign a complaint against the man for domestic battery, which she did later.
After speaking with the two, the officers arrested the man for domestic battery and transported him to central lockup at the North Riverside Police Department. The man was placed in a cell to await a bond hearing and an initial court date was set for Feb. 29.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated Feb. 17-22 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Feb. 19-26; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
