Police: Drunk Ambulance Driver Caused Crash
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man who crashed a private ambulance into another vehicle on the North Side this week was arrested for driving drunk.
WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports 31-year-old John Lara, of LaGrange, was driving a Care 1 ambulance around 10:45 a.m. Monday – with his lights and sirens activated – when he hit a pickup truck at Clark and Montrose.
Police officers who arrived to investigate the crash noticed a strong smell of alcohol, and noticed Lara's eyes were glassy and his speech was slurred.
Police said he was the only one in the ambulance, and was headed to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center to pick up a patient.
Lara's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit, police said.
He has been charged with aggravated driving under the influence, disobeying a stop signal, negligent driving, failing to carry a driver's license, and other offenses.
Lara has been arrested before.
He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of impersonating a police officer and spent six months in prison in 2005, according to court records.
He also was sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to a forgery charge in 2002, court records show.
