Articles Posted in DUI

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Mayor Daley chose ex-CTA vice-president of construction, Pat Harney, to preside over the city’s entire fleet.

Harney, was forced out of his $98K a year job with the CTA after his CTA-owned vehicle rear-ended another vehicle. Harney refused a breath test and was charged with driving under the influence and suspended without pay. Harney resigned from his position two weeks later. He said the incident was a “lapse in judgment and accepted his responsibility.”

Since his 1998 DUI, Harney has held top jobs in Chicago’s Department of Aviation and more recently as first chief deputy of staff overseeing more than $2.2 billion in federal stimulus funds that bankrolled transportation and infrastructure projects throughout the city and created 9,000 jobs.

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20 year old, Francisco Campos, was charged with aggravated DUI resulting in an accidental death, Chicago police said.

Campos was driving a 2003 Ford Explorer SUV that allegedly sped through a stop sign around two in the morning and struck another vehicle driven by Bahara Echmail. Campos’ SUV struck two other parked cars before also hitting a tree. Campos could be facing felony DUI charges.

Echmail, whose Orthodox Christian family fled religious persecution in Iraq about five years before, was pronounced dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. His 14 year old sister, Berola, was one of four teens injured in the collision

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Chicago Alderman Sharon Dixon (24th) is suing three Chicago police officers for her DUI arrest in 2009. The arrest took place on January 20, 2009, the same day as President Obama’s inauguration. Dixon claims she drank a couple of glasses of wine at a friend’s house in Evanston and was pulled over by Chicago police on Sheridan Road. Officers had set up a roadblock in an effort to control traffic in the proximity of a fatal Rogers Park fire. Dixon claims that she attempted to explain her confusion when she saw the roadblock but the officers became angry and agitated. She believes the officers were offended at her request for their badge numbers.

The officers claim that Dixon smelled like alcohol and failed field sobriety tests after a 30 minute argument. She was arrested and refused the Breathalyzer test. Dixon further claims she spent seven hours hand cuffed to a wall at a North Side police station and police waited until the press had arrived before they would release her.

In February of last year, a judge found that no probable cause existed for Dixon’s DUI arrest and the charges were later dropped. Dixon pleaded guilty to obstruction of traffic and was fined $200. Dixon’s attorney explained that serious damage was done to her reputation and is seeking a large amount of money in damages. She claims that the press was only present when she was arrested but not when he case was ultimately dismissed.

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At the Rolling Meadows Courthouse, Betty Burden, 55, plead guilty to aggravated DUI and admitted she was drunk when she drove students home from school last March. Burden delivered nearly 45 Lions Park Elementary School students to their homes along nearly a seven mile route.

Burden failed a field sobriety test and was found to have a Blood Alcohol Level of nearly three times that legal limit at .226 percent. She admitted drinking vodka and orange juice before driving the children home.

Burden and her supervisor were both fired following the incident. Burden’s supervisor had checked on her after getting a report that she might have been drinking but did not immediately contact the police.

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Driver Sheraz Kahn, 24, was stopped at a downtown Hinsdale’s gas station after police officers received a complaint about a dark-colored Honda driving recklessly. Khan was arrested for driving under the influence of cannabis after he failed a field sobriety test and officers allegedly smelled a strong odor of burnt cannabis coming from inside the car.

Along with him were two passengers, Robert Ixta, 19 and Katherine Sampang, 20. Ixta was charged with possession of cannabis and unlawful use of a driver’s license. Sampang was charged with interfering with a police officer after providing a false name. Sampang was not in possession of anything illegal.

3 arrested after report of reckless driving, www.triblocal.com, January 12, 2011

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Betty Burden, a former Mt. Prospect school bus driver pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI on Wednesday at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. Burden admitted in court that she was intoxicated when she drove students home from school last spring.

Burden had maintained her innocence since her arrest. Police claim she failed a field sobriety test and showed a BAC of .226, almost three times the legal limit. Burden as well as her supervisor have been fired from Mt. Prospect School District 57. She faces probation or up to three years in prison. She will be sentenced January 26th at Rolling Meadows.

Ex-Mount Prospect school bus driver guilty of DUI, chicagotribune.com, January 5, 2011

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The Cook County Sheriff’s police are accused of removing the clothes and photographing a DUI crash victim on the side of the road in plain sight of onlookers without justification. Jessica Mejia was killed in a car crash on New Year’s Eve 2009 near Oak Forest. Her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Sord, is charged with reckless homicide and DUI. Sord allegedly had a BAC of .236 when he drove his Mercedes SUV into a pole. He is currently awaiting trial on the criminal charges.

The family of Jessica Mejia filed the suit against the police, claiming severe and extreme distress due to the inappropriate photos that were taken on the scene. The family seeks more than $200,000. The Cook County sheriff’s department denies the allegations.

Suit: Cops took nude photos of DUI crash victim, suntimes.com, December 30, 2010

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Eric Barth, 21, has been charged with six counts of aggravated DUI and accused of causing a three-vehicle crash in Kane County. Barth was driving a Chevy pickup truck when he allegedly veered into the opposite lane of traffic and crashed head-on into a GMC Yukon SUV. A Hyundai Sonata was unable to avoid the collision and crashed into the two vehicles. Investigators believe the icy road conditions may have contributed.

The two occupants of the GMC Yukon – a 64-year-old man and 69-year-old woman – were taken to an Elgin hospital where they were both listed in critical condition. Barth was treated at the hospital and then arrested. The passengers of the Hyundai were treated and released in stable condition.

Barth was also cited with several traffic violations, including driving without a drivers license. His BAC was more than three times the legal limit at .27.

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Brandon Reed, 23, has been charged with misdemeanor DUI after a crash in Chicago that left one female passenger dead and a 4-year-old boy injured. Reed was also ticketed for driving on a revoked license.

Reed was traveling on the 1600 block of West Harrison Street in Chicago when his vehicle crashed into a pole. Passenger Angeline De-Leon, 25, was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. The 4-year-old boy was taken to Stroger Hospital after going into shock. Reed was also taken to the hospital in critical condition.

According to officials, witnesses allegedly heard the boy yell out of a window, “slow down dad,” shortly before the vehicle crashed. The accident remains under investigation and Chicago Police say the charges against Reed may be upgraded.

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Aileen Beernink faces a potential prison sentence after her third arrest for Driving Under the Influence of alcohol. She is also accused of driving with a revoked or suspended license, driving under the influence of drugs and driving without insurance.

Beernink was spotted by a patrol officer driving with her headlights off. The officer determined she was under the influence of an unspecified narcotic and had an invalid drivers license.

Beernink was previously arrested on June 18 on two counts of DUI and multiple traffic offenses. Court records show she was placed on a year of court supervision and assessed over $2300 in fines and legal cost in that case. She was also arrested in 2008 by Naperville police in separate cases involving drug charges and driving too fast for conditions. Beernink was ticketed in 2009 for driving without headlights and earlier this year for driving too fast for conditions. She is also the defendant in a civil lawsuit filed in August where she is accused of damaging a man’s vehicle during a traffic crash.

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