10 years for drunk driver who killed Brookfielder
DuPage County Judge Kathryn Creswell on Oct. 24 sentenced Daniel Clark, 34, of Naperville, to 10 years in prison for the death of Brookfield resident Frank Caruso in February 2012.
In July, Clark pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated driving under the influence causing death and one count of aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm. He will have to serve 85 percent of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
At about 1 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2012, a drunken Clark was talking on his cellphone and driving his grey Chevy Impala at 73 mph while eastbound on I-290 near Mill Road in Addison, when he slammed into an Illinois State Police squad car, which had its lights flashing and was parked in the roadway behind a disabled vehicle. The disabled vehicle, a 2005 Nissan SUV, belonged to Caruso and had been involved in a one-vehicle crash.
Caruso was keeping warm in the backseat of the squad car, while the trooper sat up front when Clark’s vehicle struck the squad car. The impact killed Caruso and seriously injured State Trooper Matthew Woodiel.
According to police, Clark’s blood-alcohol level was at least .19, more than twice the legal limit of .08.
Clark began serving his sentence immediately. He had been free on bond since March 6, 2012.
Racial slurs alleged
A 78-year-old Brookfield man was warned to avoid any contact with a mail carrier after the postal employee complained that the resident shouted profanities and racial slurs at him while he was delivering the mail.
The postal employee, who is black, told police that on Oct. 1 the man, who is white, yelled, “Get off my property you n—–” at him. The mail carrier made a formal complaint to his supervisor, who assigned him to a different route temporarily and replaced him with a white letter carrier.
Two weeks later, on Oct. 14, the postal employee was back on his regular route. The mail carrier stated the same man used profanities and racial slurs while demanding the mail carrier not park his vehicle so close to a stop sign near the man’s home.
On Oct. 22, the incidents were reported to police, who interviewed the resident. Police stated that the man denied using racial slurs. However, he was cautioned not to have any contact with the mail carrier in the future. While police were on the scene, a witness came up to police and told them he had heard the man call the mail carrier a “n—–” about three weeks earlier.
The resident suspected of hurling the racial slurs wasn’t charged with any offense, but an officer advised the mail carrier to contact police immediately if he feels threatened by the man in the future.
Wrong door
Riverside police say they charged an intoxicated 48-year-old Riverside resident with disorderly conduct after he entered an apartment building in the 100 block of Pine Avenue at about midnight on Oct. 18 and began trying to enter one of the apartments.
The woman who lived in the apartment told police, the man was trying to unlock her door and was jiggling the door handle. When she opened the door to see what was going on, the man reportedly fell into her apartment. At that time, the woman squirted the man with pepper spray and called 911.
Police learned that the intoxicated man lived in the building but was trying to open the door to the wrong apartment.
Pinched for attempted break-ins
Brookfield police charged an 18-year-old Lyons man with four counts of misdemeanor attempted criminal trespass to a motor vehicle after someone called 911 on Oct. 27 at about 4:10 a.m. to report two subjects in black clothing opening and closing car doors in the vicinity of Rochester and Sunnyside avenues.
Police spotted the two suspects in the area and saw each one drop an object, later found to be two flashlights, on the ground. About 10 feet from the flashlights police found two folding knives. The subject who was eventually charged was also wearing two pairs of blue latex gloves on each hand.
Both subjects were interviewed by police, resulting in the charges to the 18 year old. The 19-year-old LaGrange resident who accompanied him was not charged.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Oct. 18-27, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
—Compiled by Bob Uphues
