Report: Woman Was Let Go In Bridgeview With 0.295 Blood Alcohol
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (CBS) -- Do you think police would let you off the hook if you had a blood-alcohol level that was more than three times the legal limit for drunkenness?
As WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, an internal investigation is underway in southwest suburban Bridgeview, after a 36-year-old Chicago woman was released from custody with a blood alcohol level of 0.295, according to a published report.
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The SouthtownStar reported the woman was involved in a minor accident at 79th Street and Harlem Avenue on Dec. 10. The first police officer who responded to the scene smelled alcohol on her breath, and she failed several field sobriety tests, the newspaper reported.
The SouthtownStar reported the alcohol in the car was a bottle of Patrón tequila that was nearly empty.
The woman was originally arrested for suspected DUI and declined to take a breathalyzer, but the SouthtownStar reports one of the responding Bridgeview police officers and a sergeant apparently got into an argument as they were working on reports.
In a police report obtained by the SouthtownStar, an officer said the sergeant wanted him to handle the DUI report so two officers who responded earlier would not be on overtime, and also sign his name to the first officers' report about the crash even though he wasn't there. The officer who came to handle the DUI was not comfortable signing the crash report, the newspaper reported.
The sergeant then ordered the officer to uncuff the woman and let her go, the newspaper reported. But police reports say the sergeant was apparently curious about how drunk the woman was and asked her to take a blood alcohol test, promising that she would face no criminal consequences regardless of the result, the SouthtownStar reported.
The sergeant ordered the woman released only with tickets for having an open container alcohol tequila in her sport-utility vehicle, driving without proof of insurance, and not slowing down to avoid an accident, the newspaper reported.
