Riverside police ticketed a Summit man Jan. 16 for a hit-and-run after he backed into a Riverside woman’s car twice.
Around 2 p.m., an officer responded to the intersection of East Quincy Street and South Delaplaine Road for a report of the hit-and-run and spoke with the woman whose car was involved.
According to police, the woman said she had been stopped in traffic on South Delaplaine Road waiting for a train to pass on the BNSF railroad when the white car in front of hers began to reverse and struck her car’s front bumper. She said the car pulled forward and the driver started to get out before the vehicle reversed, struck her car’s front bumper a second time and then turned south to flee the scene.
Through watching footage obtained by village cameras on East Burlington Street, Riverside police identified the license plates of the car that had reversed and witnesses the hit-and-run. Police found the plates were registered to an address in Summit, so they contacted Summit police, who sent an officer to locate the car at the address and have it towed.
Riverside police tried and failed to contact the registered owner of the vehicle before he walked into the Riverside Police Department around 6 p.m. and spoke to an officer. The man told police he was stopped in traffic due to the train when he decided to turn around; he said he thought he had room to reverse and did not see the woman’s car before his vehicle struck it. He said he pulled forward and began to get out of his car once he realized what had happened but that he accidentally put the car in reverse instead of in park, which caused it to strike the woman’s car again. He told police he then left the scene because he did not have insurance on his car.
Police issued the man citations for improperly reversing, failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to produce proof of insurance. They gave him a tow receipt for his vehicle and set a Feb. 7 court date before releasing him.
Drunk speeder charged
Riverside police ticketed a woman Jan. 18 for driving drunk after they caught her speeding, police reports show.
Around 2:28 a.m., an officer was on patrol at the intersection of Blackhawk Road and Harlem Avenue, checking the speeds of vehicles with radar, when they witnessed a white car drive past at 50 mph in the 30-mph zone while approaching Ogden Avenue. The officer activated their emergency lights to pull the car over, and the driver pulled over near the intersection of 40th Street and Harlem Avenue.
According to police, when the officer told the driver they pulled her over due to her speeding, she apologized and “slightly laughed.” While talking with her, the officer observed the woman to have had slow speech, droopy eyes and the odor of alcohol on her breath. When asked if she was OK, the woman said she was “fine, just tipsy,” and admitted after further questions that she had drunk “a couple shots” earlier while celebrating her birthday. After the woman provided police with her driver’s license and proof of insurance, the officer had the woman step out of the car to perform field sobriety tests due to her admission.
During the tests, the woman failed to follow instructions accurately; while police tested her gaze to look for indicators of impairment in her eye movements, the woman followed their finger by moving her whole head to look, not just her eyes. During the walk and turn test, the woman began the test while the officer told her the instructions and she failed to walk heel-to-toe, swaying while she walked.
After completing the field sobriety tests, the woman agreed to take a preliminary breath test. After multiple failed attempts, the test showed blood alcohol content of .118. Based on the reading and the other tests, the officer arrested the woman for driving under the influence of alcohol and transported her to the North Riverside Police Department for processing.
After a 20-minute observation period, the woman took another breath test, which showed a blood alcohol content of .116. After being read her Miranda rights, the woman answered some questions from police before saying she did not want to talk further.
Police issued two charges to the woman for driving drunk and a third for speeding. After setting a Feb. 7 court date, police had the woman call an Uber to take her to her destination and released her.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated Jan. 16-18 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Jan. 20-27; 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.
