4th DUI For Sleeping Joliet Driver Who Had 3 Heinekens: Forfeiture

JOLIET— The Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow filed a civil forfeiture complaint on Tuesday in hopes of seizing the 2005 Chevrolet Tahoe driven by 54-year-old Joliet or Crest Hill resident Andre Pinnick on Dec. 11. That night, Joliet police officer Ken Macejak arrested Pinnick on charges of aggravated DUI and no valid driver's license.

Pinnick already has three prior DUI convictions, including two that put him in prison, Tuesday's civil forfeiture complaint noted.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release:

Between 5 and 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 11, officer Ken Macejak responded to Broadway and Ruby Streets to assist a motorist. Traffic was beginning to back up behind the white Chevy Tahoe that was stopped in the rightmost southbound lanes.

The headlights were on and the driver appeared to be asleep, court records show.

The officer noticed the driver was unresponsive and the Tahoe was still in drive and the driver's foot was on the brake. Macejak pounded on the window of the Tahoe to wake up the driver, who had bloodshot, glassy eyes, the court records note.

"I'm f***** up," Pinnick responded, the court files show. "I said I'm f***ed up."

While the Tahoe remained in drive, Pinnick took his foot off the brake pedal and rolled the Tahoe forward, bumping into and coming to a stop against the Joliet police car's push bumper, the forfeiture noted.

Pinnick told Macejak he had "about three Heineken beers" starting a few hours earlier. Pinnick also revealed he had smoked some weed about one hour before, the court documents show.

Pinnick performed several field sobriety tests, but opted not to take a portable breath test, the complaint indicated.

In addition to his three prior DUIs and prison sentences for two of his three prior DUIs, Pinnick has nine prior driving while license revoked or driving while suspended convictions, the forfeiture noted.

Because Pinnick failed to show up in December for his Will County Courthouse hearing, on New Year's Eve, an arrest warrant was issued for Pinnick and prosecutors have filed a petition to deny pretrial release for Pinnick.

Court files list Pinnick as living on Marlboro Lane in Crest Hill while the jail logs from October had him residing in Joliet on Englewood Avenue.