Riverside police arrested a Berwyn man Jan. 3 in Lyons for driving under the influence after an officer observed him driving slowly and drifting into the oncoming traffic lane.
Around 7:37 p.m., an officer on patrol was driving east on Ogden Avenue near Joliet Avenue when they saw a dark blue car heading in the opposite direction while travelling noticeably slowly. The officer U-turned to get behind the car and matched its pace at 12 mph in a 25-mph zone. While driving behind the car, the officer noticed its taillights were out and watched the car “drift into oncoming traffic” by crossing the double yellow lines with the driver’s side tires before starting to brake suddenly.
The officer activated their squad car’s emergency lights near the intersection with Lawndale Avenue to start a traffic stop, but the car continued for about five blocks until it came to a stop at the Mobil gas station near Anna Avenue. After the car stopped, the officer saw the driver get out of his car and walk toward the squad care “while staggering and pulling his pants up,” police said.
After patting the man down for weapons and finding none, the officer asked the man where he was going; the man “slurred his speech” as he responded that he was heading from Chicago to “Chicago and First Avenue.” After the officer checked the man’s driver’s license, which came back clear and valid, they asked the man to take field sobriety tests, which he agreed to do inside the gas station out of the cold.
During the gaze nystagmus tests, the officer noticed multiple indicators of impairment in the man’s eye movement, and during a balance test, the man swayed and stopped after only eight seconds when he had been instructed to stop after 30 seconds. The man told the officer he thought he had balanced for about 20 seconds. The man also appeared impaired during alphabet and backwards counting tests.
After the tests, the officer asked the man how many alcoholic beverages he had drunk. The man said he had two and a half beers.
The officer placed the man under arrest for driving drunk based on his behavior. After handcuffing the man and placing him in the squad car, the officer searched the man’s car and found an open, full bottle of beer in the front seat.
Before the officer could transport the man to be booked, he started hyperventilating and said he was having chest pain and breathing problems, so the officer called Lyons paramedics to take the man to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn.
While there, the man refused to sign his warning to motorist form and requested an attorney after being Mirandized. After he was released from the hospital, police took the man to be booked; while police sought potential felony aggravated DUI charges because the man having more than two previous DUI arrests, they were denied, as the man had only one prior DUI conviction. The man was booked and released with a Feb. 21 court date before police drove him to his home in Berwyn.
Cited for speeding
Brookfield police ticketed a 25-year-old Brookfield man Jan. 6 for speeding.
Around 10:18 p.m., an officer was on patrol on the 8700 block of West 31st Street when they saw a gray car heading west at 69 mph in a 35-mph zone using their in-car traffic radar. The officer pulled the car over and spoke with the driver and sole occupant.
After the officer explained the reason for the stop, the driver said he understood and admitted he had been speeding. The man provided his driver’s license and proof of insurance before the officer issued him a citation for speeding, police said. The man was given a Feb. 11 court date and sent on his way from the scene of the traffic stop.
Arrested on a warrant
Riverside police arrested a woman with an active warrant Jan. 8 after they saw her driving her car in Riverside.
Around 9:15 p.m., an officer was on patrol on East Quincy Street when they saw a white car heading west approaching Riverside Road. After running the car’s license plates through the computer-assisted dispatch, the officer learned that the owner, a woman, had an active warrant out for her arrest and pulled the car over near Bloomingbank Road after seeing the driver was also a woman.
The officer spoke to the driver, who could not provide her driver’s license “in that time” when asked, so the officer took down her name and date of birth, which matched those of the car’s registered owner, and arrested her. After the woman was placed in the back of the officer’s squad car, she asked for her phone and purse form her car before police would have it towed. While retrieving the items, the officer saw the purse with the zipper open and a Glock 43 handgun inside; dispatchers told the officer the woman had an active firearm owner’s ID card but did not have a concealed carry license.
After allowing the car to be turned over to one of the woman’s family members who arrived, police took her to lockup in Berwyn to process her. An assistant state’s attorney approved felony charges for the woman for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. The officer provided the woman with a cite and release form and set a court date for Jan. 15 while she waited to be picked up by police from Westmont who had set the warrant.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated Jan. 3-8 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Jan. 6-13; 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.
