Robbins Police Chief, Mayor Stepping Down
ROBBINS (CBS) -- The south suburban police chief who authorities say exclaimed, "Oh wow," when he was asked to take a sobriety test shortly before his drunken-driving arrest last month has stepped down.
Johnny Lewis Holmes, who was at the Robbins Police Department on Monday night, said he had retired last Thursday from his post as police chief. after his Dec. 22 arrest in Midlothian. Holmes, who was at the Robbins police department Monday night, said he retired Thursday.
"Officially, I am no longer chief," Holmes said in a telephone interview. "Everything is relevant. I've done my time, and it's time for me to move on. And, in the best interest of all parties involved, that appeared to me and village officials the best resolution to all this."
Midlothian authorities said Holmes, 66, who also is a member of the Community High School District 218 Board, was so disoriented he was stopped on Dec. 22 that he thought he was still in the neighboring village of Posen. The incident was Holmes' second DUI arrest in Midlothian in less than three years.
Holmes allegedly admitted that he had been drinking in Posen the night he was stopped, and officers found a flask of alcohol in his jacket, according to a police report. He also failed two field-sobriety tests, and a subsequent Breathalyzer indicated his blood-alcohol level was .194, more than twice the legal limit, according to a police report.
According to court records, he was sentenced to court supervision and paid more than $1,000 in fees for the 2010 DUI citation.
He had led the Robbins Police Department since 1991.
Reached at her home, Robbins Mayor Irene Brodie said she had heard of Holmes' recent arrest in Midlothian and asked him to step down as police chief.
Brodie said she plans to step down as mayor at the end of the week, months before her term expires.
Brodie said she has been mayor in Robbins for more than 30 years, and she's stepping down from that post as well as from her teaching position at Moraine Valley Community College.
Her departure is not related to Holmes' situation, she said.
"I'm just kind of tired," Brodie said. "I've said to everybody, 'Don't bother me anymore.' "
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