Drunk Driver Held For Fight With Cops
RIVERSIDE, Ill. (CBS) -- A man is charged with driving drunk and resisting arrest, after fighting with a police officer in a Riverside parking lot on Christmas Eve.
Police say that before this incident, the man, Joshua J. Kemper, of Lyons, had caused a disturbance at a bar in Stone Park.
About 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 24, Riverside Police saw a gray Cadillac run the red light at 26th Street and Des Plaines Avenue, almost striking a police vehicle that was parked waiting for the light to turn green. When the officer attempted to stop the Cadillac, it did a U-turn and fled north on Des Plaines, according to a release from Riverside police.
The officer turned off his lights and followed the vehicle until its driver pulled into a Walgreens parking lot at Ogden and Oak Park avenues in Berwyn. Once the driver saw the police, he put the car in reverse and began to back up in an attempt to escape out of the parking lot.
Police ordered the driver to stop but, he refused, according to the release.
The driver kept going in reverse in the parking lot putting several shoppers in danger of being hit, police said.
Finally, an officer hit the passenger side window with this baton four times, breaking out the window to get into the car through the passenger side door. As the officer entered the car, he ordered the driver to stop, but instead, the driver attempted to drive away with the officer inside his vehicle.
Kemper and the officer began fighting inside the car. After several minutes of fighting with the driver, Kemper was taken into custody by force, police said.
The officer suffered minor injuries, as did Kemper, who was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn and released back into police custody later that same night.
Riverside Police officers received assistance from several area police departments.
Kemper was charged with felony fleeing and eluding police, two counts of felony DUI, resisting arrest and 14 traffic violations. He was scheduled to appear in court at a bond hearing on Monday.
He had also been driving on a suspended license on a prior DUI conviction, police said.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
