Conflicting Reports on Fatal DUI Crash in Steger

July 19, 2010 - Police reports concerning a DUI crash that killed a five-year-old boy have been released to the public, and they present a conflicting view of what happened that day. In the early morning hours of May 10, a 22-year-old man drove his car into a tree in Steger, killing his girlfriend's 5-year-old child. Less than an hour before the crash, the child's mother had been arrested in Chicago Heights for driving with a suspended license.

After arresting the mother, a Chicago Heights police officer allowed the 22-year-old boyfriend to drive home with the child in the backseat. After the crash it was revealed that the boyfriend's blood-alcohol content was three times the legal limit.

According to reports at NBC Chicago, the Steger Police Department released a report last week in which they state that the 22-year-old driver was clearly intoxicated when they arrived at the crash scene. The responding officer said the man smelled of alcohol and was stumbling. However, the Chicago Heights Police Department maintains that there was no indication that the man was drunk when they pulled over the car shortly before the crash.

The report from the Steger Police Department does back up a claim made by Chicago Heights that the child's mother did not tell officers that her boyfriend had been drinking. Steger officers claim the child's mother admitted to not disclosing that information in an interview after the accident. However, the woman is now disputing that claim, and she maintains that she told officers that her boyfriend was drunk before they gave him the keys. The boyfriend is facing charges of reckless homicide, but no court date has been set.