High Driver Reversed on Road, Cut Headlights to Avoid Traffic Stop: Police

Riverside, IL - A Riverside police officer clocked a driver going 40 mph in a 25 mph zone at 1:26 a.m. Feb. 5 on Ogden Avenue.

The driver spotted the police car and stopped, then backed the car up in an active lane of traffic, with another car right behind it, according to Riverside police.

The Riverside officer got his car behind the reversing car and tried to stop it, but the car fled westbound on Ogden, going 49 mph in a 25 mph zone, police reported.

The driver turned off his headlights to try to hide from the officer, but the car was eventually stopped at Ogden and Lawndale in Lyons.

When the officer spoke with the driver, he reported the inside of the car smelled like cannabis. When the driver, identified as Ricardo Avelar, 18 of the 8700 block of West 45th Street in Lyons, got out of the car, he could barely stand and he used the car to prop himself up, police reported.

The officer, a state certified drug recognition expert, asked Avelar to complete the standard field sobriety tests, which he failed. Avelar’s tongue was green, which police reported is consistent with cannabis smoking and ingesting cannabis. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of drugs, illegal backing, driving without headlights, speeding and possession of drug paraphernalia, police reported.

Three passengers were also inside Avelar’s car. One passenger was released without charges.

Another passenger, an 18-year-old man of Brookfield, was severely under the influence of narcotics, and he fell on the road when he got out of the car, police reported. He was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for a medical evaluation, but police report he fought with medical personnel and security, and he had to be restrained. Berwyn police arrested him, and he was charged with battery to hospital personnel.

The front seat passenger, Jose A. Jimenez, 19 of the 4500 block of Sunnyside Avenue in Brookfield, was arrested by Riverside police and charged with felony possession of a controlled substance (lorazepam). Lorazepam is used to treat anxiety disorders and is highly addictive, police reported.

At the Riverside Police Department, paramedics were called to evaluate Avelar and Jumenez because of the influence of narcotics, police reported. They were both taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for follow up care. They were treated and released back to police.

“This was a very chaotic scene for a DUI arrest,” said Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel in a statement. ”Everyone in the car was highly intoxicated and/or under the influence of drugs to the extent that they could not even stand outside of the vehicle when stopped by Riverside police. I am thankful that the officer who made this arrest is a state certified drug recognition expert who was able to quickly discern that these individuals were under the influence of narcotics.”

Photos courtesy of Riverside police. Photo 1: Ricardo Avelar. Photo 2: Jose Jimenez.