Personal Injury Attorney Chicago Update:

Another reminder that as the weather gets warmer to be careful. This is a tragic personal injury accident that could have been avoided.

Boy, 12, killed riding bike on Southwest Side

A 12-year-old boy riding his bicycle was killed after he was struck by a pickup truck in Chicago’s Clearing neighborhood. The driver was ticketed.

Kelly Ryan was riding on the sidewalk on the 6300 block of West 60th Street at about 8:25 p.m., when he entered a crosswalk, police said. The truck, traveling south on Narragansett Avenue, attempted to make a right turn onto 60th Street and hit the boy.

The driver, Keith Kostush, 48, of the 6000 block of South Mobile Avenue, was cited for failure to yield the right of way and negligent driving, police said.

Ryan, of the 6100 block of West 64th Place, was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn where he was pronounced dead at 11:03 p.m.

Our Chicago Injury Attorneys send our prayers to family and friends affected by this tragedy.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers report:  Two more DUI Checkpoints this weekend.

ROADSIDE SAFETY CHECK IN THE GRESHAM (006TH) DISTRICT
The Chicago Police Department will conduct a Roadside Safety Check in the Gresham (006th) District at 2340 West 87th Street. The Roadside Safety Check will commence at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 23, 2010 and end at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 24, 2010.

ROADSIDE SAFETY CHECK IN THE ENGLEWOOD (007TH) DISTRICT
The Chicago Police Department will conduct a Roadside Safety Check in the Englewood (007th) District at 6401 S. Ashland Ave. The Roadside Safety Check will commence at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, April 24, 2010 and end at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, April 25, 2010.

Be careful out there, folks.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers have blogged about some of the many maniacs MADD has helped to take off the roads, including people on barstools, lawnmowers, horseback, golf carts, bicycles, wheelchairs, tractors, La-Z-boy chairs, and even an Amish man in a buggy.

Now the latest in absurd drunk driving arrests, a man in a toy Barbie car.

Drunk-driving in Barbie car costs man license

LONDON: A Briton caught drunk while driving a toy Barbie car, whose top speed is barely four miles per hour, has been banned from driving.

Forty-year-old Paul Hutton received a three-year ban as he had received another drink-drive ban within the past 10 years.

He was pulled over by police when he was driving an electric Barbie car that moves slower than a mobility scooter close to his home in Essex, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.

“You have to be a contortionist to get in, and then you can’t get out. I was very surprised to get done for drink-driving but I was a twit to say the least.

“It is designed for three-to-five-year-olds. Originally it was a pink Barbie car but I put bigger wheels on it but it’s not fast,” he said after the hearing at Colchester magistrates court.

Wow.  Congratulations to all involved in making our roads and playgrounds safer.

As promised, our Chicago DUI Lawyers have more follow-up on the arrest of Garritt Cullerton, son of  Illinois Senate President John Cullerton.

DUI arrest of Senate leader’s son highlights state vehicle perk

Garritt Cullerton has been pulled over eight times on Illinois roads since July 2001 for citations that included following too closely, speeding 115 mph in a 65 mph zone and twice previously for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to court records. In some of those cases, according to court records and interviews, he was driving his father’s car displaying the official Senate license plate “6″ that denotes John Cullerton’s North Side legislative district.

The legislator’s son was not convicted in the previous DUI cases, in 2004 and 2008, but was fined for lesser traffic offenses in both instances. John Cullerton, an attorney, said he “never, ever intervened in any court cases affecting any of my children. And nor would I.”

So this is the 3rd time that the Senator’s son has been pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving.  What can be done about this?

The Senate leader has long been a transportation safety advocate and sponsored legislation requiring motorists convicted of drunken driving to blow into an ignition-locking device to prove their sobriety.

Oh, yes.  The interlock device, (breathalyzer) for vehicles.  If the senator from Illinois thought that this was such a great idea to impose on Joe Taxpayer, why the breaks for his own son?  And why is the State’s Attorney’s Office reducing DUI charges not once but TWICE for the Senator’s son?  Where’s the outrage from MADD on this one?  Or could it be that MADD sees the Senator as a useful tool to implement their war on drunk driving in Illinois and therefore are willing to give the Senator a pass on this one?

“I’m very proud of my record with regard to anti-drunk driving measures. They apply to everybody in the state,” Cullerton said in an interview.

Everyone who’s name isn’t Garritt Cullerton, apparently.

Our Chicago Personal Injury Attorneys have been following the tragic story of Katie Lunn, a young woman who died in a crash Friday night when a train smashed into her SUV.  Now it seems the investigation into this car accident revels that human error caused this terrible accident.

Sources tell Tribune train crossing gates were not working in fatal crash
Gates, warning lights had been deactivated at the site of accident that killed dance teacher

There’s now proof that the gates, lights and bells were not working when an Amtrak train crashed into an SUV, killing a 26-year-old dance teacher.

Sources tell the Chicago Tribune that a work crew for Canadian National Railway made a mistake and deactivated the warning system at a crossing in south suburban University Park

A video from a camera on the train confirms what witnessed have been saying– that the lights at the crossing never flashed and the gates never went down.

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers find it interesting that Illinois Senator Cullerton, one of the chief architects of an ill conceived drunk driving bill, was scrambling to explain what his son was doing in a State issued vehicle at midnight, allegedly drunk driving.

Senate president’s son accused of DUI in state car

April 19, 2010

BY KIM JANSSEN Staff Reporter [email protected]

Illinois Senate President John Cullerton’s 26-year-old son faces a DUI charge after police stopped him Sunday while he was driving in downtown Chicago in his father’s state-issued car.

Garritt Cullerton had a blood-alcohol level of 0.188 –more than double the legal limit — when he was pulled over in the 800 block of North Dearborn shortly after midnight, Chicago Police spokesman Daniel O’Brien said.

John Cullerton was chief co-sponsor in the Senate of a 1997 push to lower the drunken driving, blood-alcohol threshold from .10 to .08, which remains in effect. He also pushed for a 2009 state law requiring all first-time DUI offenders to install breath-alcohol ignition interlocks on their vehicles before a court can grant driving privileges.

John Cullerton’s spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said the Illinois Senate president is disappointed that this incident occurred and takes this matter very seriously.

Actions speak louder than words.  Since President Cullerton thought breath-alcohol ignition interlocks for all first time DUI offenders was a good enough idea to put into law, we would assume that he’ll be installing one on his son’s car ASAP.  Our DUI Attorneys will be following this story closely.

Chicago Personal Injury Attorney Update:  City settles unauthorized police chase case.

Chicago aldermen approve $3 million settlement in police chase crash

The Chicago City Council today approved a $3 million settlement in the case of a young woman who suffered a permanent brain injury in a crash involving a stolen vehicle being followed by police.

The settlement goes to the family of Regina Varela, who suffers a host of cognitive problems as a result of the August 2004 crash.
Varela, who was 17 when the crash occurred, was a passenger in a car headed west on Addison Street at Kedzie Avenue when a stolen conversion van being pursued by police ran a red light and hit the car broadside.

The man driving the stolen van, a passenger in the van and a witness on the street testified police had been chasing the van for several blocks, according to a Law Department news release.

The officers involved, however, said they had just activated their emergency equipment and were several car lengths behind the van when the crash occurred, the release stated. They were disciplined for being outside their district without approval, it stated.

Another example of why it is so important to retain a experienced Chicago injury attorney if you have been injured in an accident.

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys have previously blogged about the man arrested for DUI on a La-Z-Boy chair. We find out today that the chair is once again up for auction.

Minnesota’s ‘DWI Chair’ up for auction again

PROCTOR, Minn. – The motorized recliner at the center of a drunken driving case in northern Minnesota is once again up for auction.

The Proctor Journal reports Wednesday that the latest auction is being conducted by Do-Bid.com of Hermantown. The bidding stood at $412.50 on Wednesday.

The chair was built by a Proctor man who was arrested in 2008 after driving it into a parked car. He pleaded guilty to drunken driving and the chair was confiscated.

It’s been put up for on-line auction twice before. One sale fell through because the chair was mislabeled and once because a California man backed out of the deal.

The recliner is powered by a lawnmower engine. It comes equipped with a stereo, cup holders and lights.

Proctor Police Chief Walter Wobig says, “I hope it sells this time.”

Our Chicago DUI Lawyers are amazed at the dismantling of our Constitutional Rights in the name of drunk driving enforcement.

Missouri House passes DUI bill
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

The Missouri House passed a DUI bill Wednesday that includes a provision giving police in Missouri the power to extract blood samples from suspected drunk drivers without a warrant.

While the bill has been lauded by supporters as an overhaul of the state’s drunken driving laws, several other provisions were amended out of the legislation, including one that would have strengthened penalties for drivers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or more.

The bill passed 123-28 in the House. Opponents said taking blood samples without a warrant is unconstitutional.

Yes, jamming a needle into someone’s arm who is merely suspected of a crime is unconstitutional.  You have more rights as a murder suspect than as a suspected drunk driver.  Ridiculous.

Our Chicago DUI Attorneys want to remind everyone to be safe on the roads this weekend.

DUI STRIKE FORCE PATROL IN THE GRAND CENTRAL (025TH) DISTRICT
The Chicago Police Department will conduct a DUI Strike Force Patrol in the Grand Central (025th) District beginning at 7:00 p.m., Friday, April 16, 2010 and ending at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 17, 2010.

Be careful out there, folks.