Cops: Drunken Man Crashes Into Squad Car, Drives Off

Local police officers chased down a driver on foot last month who reportedly reversed into a squad car that had been parked for less than a minute near downtown .

An officer parked his police car around 7:35 p.m. July 31 just east of Oak Park Avenue on North Avenue and began walking across the street to the northeast corner of that intersection, according to a police report.

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"Within a minute of the squad being parked, (the officer) observed a subject backing (his) Ford F250 out from a parking spot on the north side of North Avenue," an officer wrote, in the report. "The Ford backed up and struck the driver's side, rear corner panel of (the squad car). The driver then looked around and quickly drove off … "

Two other officers also witnessed the incident and one began chasing the driver, later identified as Kevin M. Perich, 34, of the 16800 block of Elm Lane Drive in Tinley Park. As the one officer was running after the truck, another got in the squad car that had been hit. He got Perich to stop in about 1 block, police said.

They then asked him several times to shut the vehicle off and get out of the driver's seat, but said Perich didn't comply, the report said. He instead remained smoking a cigarette and an officer eventually reached through the window and shut the vehicle off for him, according to police.

Asked how much he had been drinking, Perich told officers "Obviously too much," they said. He then allegedly failed field sobriety tests and was arrested. At the station, Perich blew a .241 on the Breathalyzer.

He was charged with improper backing, failure to give information after striking an unattended vehicle, driving under the influence of alcohol and driving under the influence with a blood-alcohol content greater than 0.08.

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