Officer Injured When DUI Driver Crashes into Earlier DUI Wreckage: Police

Riverside police arrested two people early Feb. 7 for drunken driving after two separate crashes happened within 10 minutes of each other at the same intersection.

Police were called at 4:13 a.m. to a crash at First Avenue and Waubansee Road, where a driver was ejected from a Nissan after crashing into a tree, according to Riverside police.

The driver was taken to Loyola University Medical Center with serious injuries. At the hospital, the driver, Roman W. Matlak, 25 of the 3400 block of North Tripp Avenue in Chicago, told police he had left a nightclub in Chicago and he had been drinking heavily through the night, according to police.

Matlak refused to have his blood drawn, and officers could smell alcohol on his mouth and body, police reported. He was arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, improper lane usage and driving too fast for conditions.

As officers at the First Avenue and Waubansee Road crash scene began their investigation, a Chevrolet van screeched and swerved as it approached, police reported. A North Riverside officer was moving his car to block the street when the van smashed into the back of his squad car at 4:23 a.m., police reported. The car spun 360 degrees, and the van went into the forest preserve and hit a tree.

The North Riverside police officer was taken to Loyola University Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

Riverside Police called for help from the Lyons Police Department, the McCook Police Department and the Brookfield Police Department. All lanes of First Avenue, northbound and southbound, were closed between Ogden and Parkview avenues.

Police reported the driver of the van, Gregorio Torres, 37 of the 7800 block of West 65th Place in Bedford Park, smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and could barely stand. He was treated by paramedics before police arrested him. He was also taken to Loyola Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Torres told police he was driving south when he lost control of his van in the First Avenue curve up to Waubansee Road. He said he had been drinking all night after working in Melrose Park, and he’d had at least 12 or 13 beers before driving, police reported.

Torres was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failing to yield to an emergency vehicle and failure to have insurance, according to police. He was also issued a citation by the North Riverside Police Department for the extensive damage to the squad car, police reported.

Riverside police had arrested and charged Torres with DUI before, at 4:43 a.m. Nov. 3, 2004, at the same intersection — First Avenue and Waubansee, police reported.

Photos courtesy of Riverside police. Bottom right: Gregorio Torres.