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Highwood Mayor, Charlie Pecaro, was arrested over Labor Day weekend for driving under the influence after officers witnessed him following too closely and driving with his headlights off.

A Judge agreed to a deferred judgement with a year of court supervision. As a result, the DUI will not appear on Pecaro’s public record unless he violates the courts terms, which would lead to a conviction for DUI.

Highland Park police did not release the arrest report until after the case had been settled. The report describes Pecaro as being cooperative and apologetic. Pecaro admitted to drinking five glasses of red wine at a family Labor Day dinner party. After struggling with four field sobriety tests, Pecaro’s blood alcohol content was 0.129.

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Sheila Kane, 30, was charged with aggravated DUI after she struck a bicyclist on the Near West Side. Witnesses at a bar reported seeing Kane consume six vodka drinks before getting behind the wheel of her vehicle.

Kane reportedly crashed into a barrier causing the vehicle to flip over before striking the bicyclist. The victim is in critical condition and on a ventilator after sustaining serious brain injuries as a result of the crash. Kane admitted to having three vodka drinks but refused testing. Kane’s blood alcohol content was .201 percent, more than twice the legal limit.

Woman accused of drinking six vodkas before driving into bicyclist, www.suntimes.com, September 5, 2011

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Henry Jesus Mendez, 21, was arrested in connection with car chase that resulted in a crash in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago.

Mendez allegedly began firing a gun at individuals he recently had an altercation with at a nearby nightclub. Police officers heard the gunshots and responded to the scene where witnesses pointed out the car as it drove away. Also in the car were two women and a fourth person who escaped and still remains unidentified.

Mendez crashed the car into a pole near Belmont and Sheffield and all occupants allegedly fled the vehicle. Mendez was charged with felony reckless discharge of a firearm and aggravated fleeing from the police. He was also charged with several traffic citations for running red lights, reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and damaging city property. According to police, Mendez disobeyed 10 stop signs and red lights.

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Diana Paz, 35, was arrested for Driving Under the Influence during an early Friday morning stop. About two hours later she was released and dropped off at a BP gas station near the Eisenhower Expressway. Thirty minutes later she was struck and killed as she walked along the median of the expressway.

Paz was arrested for DUI after she refused a Breathalyzer and failed field sobriety test.

Paz’s family is questioning why the police released her so close to the highway if she was still under the influence. However, police said in a statement that she was “alert” at the time they dropped her off and that she had stated that she had “no family or means of transportation.” Paz requested a ride to a nearby gas station and, as a courtesy, the trooper dropped her off after obtaining approval from the supervisor.

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Bruce Brandwein, defense attorney for Alia Bernard, will argue that the “any amount” of marijuana law recently passed by the Illinois Supreme Court is unconstitutional and violates equal protection under the law.

Bernard was originally charged with reckless homicide, but aggravated DUI charges were filed after blood test detected some amount of marijuana in her system. She could face up to 28 years in prison if convicted. Bernard, 27, allegedly caused a fatal 9 vehicle pile-up when she rear-ended a stopped car and pushed the vehicle into an oncoming group of motorcyclist. Two people involved in the crash died and 12 others were injured.

Brandwein has motioned to have the aggravated DUI charges thrown out. Lead prosecutors on the case say they will fight Brandwein’s motion. Both sides will argue their positions in court on September 30, 2011.

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Michael Villanueva, 25, was pronounced dead at the Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood after a DUI crash on the Eisenhower Expressway near Oak Park.

Villanueva was standing outside his vehicle, which had crashed into a wall on the expressway, when he was struck by an SUV driven by a 61 year old woman. The woman was charged with driving under the influence as a result of the crash.

Villanueva was initially taken to the west suburban hospital in critical condition and died more than a week later.

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Annabella Loerop, 4, was killed when she was hit by a vehicle driven by an allegedly drunk teen.

The 17 year old, Deandre Wolf, has been charged with driving under the influence of marijuana and reckless homicide in the death of the four year old.

Wolf, 16 years old at the time of the incident, was driving a Buick when he struck Annabella as she ran into the street chasing after a ball.

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William Anthony Howe was driving a Porsche the wrong-way on Interstate 88 when he struck a vehicle killing a woman and her father and seriously injuring her husband.

Howe remains hospitalized. He has not yet been charged with the crash or been confirmed as the driver. However, witnesses reported he was swerving all over the road and throwing handfuls of cash out the window.

The victims of the crash, Farnaza Ali and her father, Sherali Shalwani, were both killed. Ali’s husband was hospitalized in critical condition.

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ESPN analyst and former Chicago Bulls player, Jalen Rose, was arrested last March for DUI after his vehicle veered off of a snowy road. There were no injuries in the accident. The 38-year-old blew a .12 after the arrest.

Rose was convicted on the charge last week in Bloomfield Hills and, despite this being his first DUI, Rose was sentenced to serve 20 days in the Oakland County Jail. He began serving that sentence on August 2nd. Rose graduated from the University of Michigan and has played for the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, New York Knicks, and Phoenix Suns.

Former U-M standout Jalen Rose starts 20-day jail sentence, www.examiner.com, August 2, 2011

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The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in April that prosecutors can upgrade charges to a felony in a fatal crash if any trace of an illegal drug is found in the defendant’s system regardless of evidence of impairment. The law applies to both illicit drugs and the unlawful use of controlled substances.

This ruling came out of a Christmas Day crash in which 24-year-old Aaron Martin left a bar in Peoria and hit a car head-on killing two women. Prosecutors are now able to upgrade charges without showing any connection between the drugs and the crash as long as the drug was found in the defendant’s system.

Critics contend that this ruling gives prosecutors an unfair advantage. Prosecutors in Cook, DuPage and Kane counties have all used the Supreme Court decision to upgrade charges. In one case, DuPage prosecutors upgraded a charge to a felony aggravated DUI involving drugs because the driver admitted to taking “one or two” hits of marijuana the night before the fatal crash. The possible sentence for the driver has now been enhanced from 12 months in jail to three to fourteen years in prison.

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