Forest Park police have scheduled a special police detail on Friday, Sept. 27, to look for impaired drivers in the 900 block of Harlem Avenue between midnight and 3 a.m. Friday, said Deputy Police Chief Tom Aftanas.
Roadside checks are designed to keep people safe by taking dangerous DUI drivers off the road, Police Chief Jim Ryan said in a press release.
“Officers will be watchful for drivers who are operating vehicles in an unsafe manner, driving with suspended or revoked licenses, transporting open alcoholic beverages or driving under the influence of drugs,” Ryan said.
Nearly 40 percent of fatal motor vehicle crashes in Illinois involve driver impairment with alcohol or drugs, police said.
The DUI safety event was planned in advance, but it takes on more significance after an allegedly drunk 20-year-old Chicago man killed two women this week, driving the wrong way down the entrance ramp into the I-290 Expressway, Aftanas said. Forest Park police were first on the scene and an officer witnessed the driver make the fatal turn and couldn’t stop him, he said.
“Our traffic check ties in with [the Sept. 7] accident,” Aftanas said. “That crash was horrific.”
“We would love to prevent more accidents like this. When an arrest is made on a DUI, you never know if that person was going to make it home without crashing,” said Aftanas.
This article was updated to correct the time and date of the police safety check.
