A 31-year-old man has been charged with several criminal offenses after allegedly causing a serious drunk driving crash that left his wife with a broken neck. The Missouri man was driving on Interstate 474 in Illinois when he caused the injurious wreck. Authorities say he was engaged in a high-speed chase with police when he ran off the road and struck a tree. The man is facing a drunk driving charge, along with aggravated domestic battery and aggravated fleeing and eluding police.
Official reports show that the defendant is accused of beating his wife and forcing her into a vehicle while the two were at a gas station. He then allegedly drove onto the interstate and sped away from a patrol car, reaching speeds of 100 mph. The vehicle crashed when it struck another vehicle, flew from the highway and smashed into a tree. The 32-year-old woman riding in the vehicle suffered a broken neck because of the crash; both she and the man were ejected from the vehicle.
Authorities say they were obligated to give chase when the man fled the gas station; the defendant had an injured victim and a potential abduction victim in his car. Despite the collision, the defendant continued to run from officers at the crash scene. Police said the man was intoxicated at the time of the collision, and there was also evidence that drugs were present at the scene. News reports have not revealed the man’s blood alcohol content level.
Defendants who are facing multiple criminal charges in addition to DWI offenses may have special legal needs. This is also true of defendants who have previous drunk driving convictions. Defendants with other mitigating factors may also need to use a different legal strategy than those with first-offense, small-scale DWI offenses. A defense attorney may be able to answer questions about the differences between certain charges.
Source: Pekin Daily Times, “Missouri man charged in North Pekin high-speed crash” Michael Smothers, Jun. 02, 2014