Tinley Park Man Faces DUI Charge After Hitting Undercover PD Car: Cops

TINLEY PARK, IL — A 32-year-old Tinley Park man faces multiple criminal charges, including drunk driving and possession of a controlled substance, after Mokena police said that he crashed into an undercover Chicago Ridge police car last month, according to police.

Michael Coughlin was arrested just before midnight on Feb. 24 after police were called to the intersection of Willow Lane and Newport in Mokena for the report of a two-accident accident, police said. Officers found Coughlin standing outside the gray Honda Civic he was driving, which police said had serious front-end damage.

The undercover police car sustained heavy rear-end damage after being struck by the other vehicle, according to a police report obtained by Patch. The vehicle also sustained damage to the side of the vehicle after it struck a mailbox after being hit, the report said.

The undercover vehicle was a Chicago Ridge department vehicle that had been assigned to an officer, according to the report.

A Mokena police officer wrote in the report that inside Coughlin's Civic, he found a pill bottle containing pills that the officer said was in plain sight and later discovered the bottle to contain 37 pills with markings that are commonly found on Adderall, the report said.

The officer also detected a strong odor of alcohol coming from Coughlin, who had slurred speech, according to the police report. Coughlin told the officer that he had not been drinking, but the officer wrote in the police report that he was having difficulty understanding Coughlin and that his eyes were bloodshot, the report said.

Coughlin refused medical attention for minor cuts sustained in the crash, police said. He also refused to take a field sobriety test, the report said. He was then placed under arrest and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, possession of a controlled substance, and failure to reduce his speed to avoid an accident.