Jacobson, 70, had attended a media party near his home Wednesday evening. Around 10:45 pm a witness called police to report a vehicle swerving and hitting a parked car. The vehicle and driver description, as well as the license plate number, led police to Jacobson. A few minutes later Chicago Police found Jacobson and his 2004 Saab in an alley behind his home. The right front wheel was damaged and the car was inoperable. Jacobson and several other people were outside the vehicle, which was not running; two points Jacobson's Illinois DUI defense attorney plans to use to challenge the arrest.

A breath test reportedly registered a blood alcohol content of .092, above the legal limit for intoxication. Jacobson was charged with misdemeanor Illinois DUI.

Jacobson was charged with drunk driving in Chicago in 2004, though his BAC was slightly below the legal limit and the charges were reduced to negligent driving, obstruction of traffic and running a stop sign. In exchange, he agreed to undergo alcohol abuse evaluation.

Jacobson declined to comment on the recent charge of Illinois drunk driving.

Do you need an Illinois DUI Lawyer?

Around 7:30 pm, McGinnis ran her SUV into the back of a mini-van that was stopped at a traffic light in Tinley Park. No one was injured in the low-speed accident, though the McGinnis was still trying to move her vehicle forward after the collision. The driver of the minivan described McGinnis as having her head on the steering wheel. Other witnesses recalled McGinnis honking her horn and flashing her lights as she weaved through traffic.

Police responding to the scene say that McGinnis appeared intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. She refused to submit to a breath test or perform field sobriety tests. In addition to a charge of suspicion of drunk driving in Chicago, the 47 year old judge was cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and failure to provide proof of insurance.

Do you want an experienced Illinois DUI Attorney?

Chicago policeman John Haleas, 37, was indicted by a grand jury for perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct for lying about arrests for driving under the influence in Illinois. The charges are felonies. He reportedly falsely claimed that he had administered field sobriety tests to suspected drunk drivers. In a separate legal issue Haleas has been sued in federal court by one DUI defendant.

When the story first broke last year, the state’s attorney’s office dismissed about 50 cases and began the review of over 500 other cases of Illinois DUI in Chicago. Haleas has been honored three times by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists for compiling the most DUI arrests in Illinois.

Haleas has been suspended from the police force. He has a court appearance on April 25.

If you have been arrested for drunk driving in Cook County, Illinois you will need to hire a Chicago DUI attorney.

Aurora is a passive alcohol sensor that detects alcohol in the air. It resembles a large flashlight and the device can determine alcohol on a motorist’s breath with a 97 percent accuracy rate. The motorist does not have to blow into a tube like conventional breath testing equipment. Conversely, the sensor does not determine a blood alcohol. It only tells a law enforcement officer that alcohol has been detected, at which point a field sobriety test may be requested to determine if the motorist is driving under the influence in Illinois.

In the ruling Judge Allen said that the scientific principles behind Aurora have gained broad acceptance. In the first ever case involving the sensor to result in a conviction for Illinois DUI, Allen found the device’s detection of alcohol was enough probable cause to put a suspected drunk driver through further investigation.

The ruling assures police officers that the use of the sensor will not jeopardize evidence in an Illinois drunk driving case.

If you have been arrested for DUI in Illinois, you will need to hire an Illinois DUI attorney.

Prosecutors now want the breath test results from the internal investigation entered as evidence during Carey’s DUI criminal case.

“There's a man chasing me and he's got a gun!”

Last May Officer Carey, 28, was off-duty when he became part of a road rage incident. Carey tailgated a vehicle that had cut him off in traffic and pointed a gun at the driver. The owner of the other vehicle frantically called 911 for help. When the driver spotted other police officers along the road, he stopped and exclaimed, “There's a man chasing me and he's got a gun!” The officers confirmed in their report that Carey was pointing a weapon at the driver.

Carey dropped his weapon as ordered and then identified himself as a police officer. The other officers detected alcohol on Carey’s breath and noticed that his speech was slurred and his eyes were bloodshot. Carey was taken to a nearby police station and charged with aggravated assault and driving under the influence, both misdemeanors. It was then that he refused a breath test associated with the DUI case. He did, however, submit to a breath test as part of procedure during an investigation of the incident. That sample reportedly registered a blood alcohol content of .145, well above the .08 legal limit for intoxication.

Prosecutors argue that Constitutional search-and-seizure protections don't keep them from using the breath test results, citing there was probable cause to arrest Carey and his consent was not needed to test for alcohol content. The police union counters with the argument that Carey was deceived, thinking the results from the internal investigation would not become evidence during his criminal DUI case.

A Traffic Court Judge recently ruled in Carey’s favor, though the Illinois state's attorney's office is planning an appeal. In the mean time, Carey has been stripped of his police authority and he faces dismissal from the force.

The horizontal gaze nystagmus test, or HGN, calls for an officer to take a pen and place it approximately six inches from a suspected drunk driver’s face. The person must track the movement of the pen as the officer moves it side to side. The clues to possible intoxication are an inability to follow the pen smoothly without noticeable jerking; an increased jerking of the eye when made to look as far as possible to the side and hold for five seconds; and a jerking of the eye before reaching 45 degrees to the side. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says HGN tests have a 77 percent accuracy rate in identifying motorists with a blood alcohol content above the legal limit.

The HGN test can be inconclusive though, and some people are naturally nystagmus, meaning their eye twitches. Other field tests can be used during a suspected DUI traffic stop, such as a one-leg stand, walk and turn and having the motorist touch a finger to tip of nose. Additionally some officers ask suspects to count or recite the alphabet, though those are not standardized tests.

DUI defense attorneys say there are many factors that can cause the eyes to jerk, including stress, fear and viral infections. There are many types of nystagmus too, not all of which are taught to those administering field sobriety tests. In courtroom cross-examination, officers often fail to accurately determine a 45 degree angle, critical to the outcome of a HGN test.

The Illinois Supreme Court decision stems from to a case involving suspected driving under the influence. The suspect had broken her toe and could not perform certain field sobriety tests and the blood sample taken 6.5 hours after her arrest revealed no alcohol in her system. The most influencing factor in the outcome of her DUI trial was the result of an HGN test.

The Supreme Court returned the case to a lower court with the finding that horizontal gaze nystagmus tests are not scientifically valid, thus adding Illinois to a small list of states where the admissibility of HGN tests during trial has not been decided. In three states, HGN tests are not admissible. The majority of courts allow juries in DUI cases to hear HGN results.

Prosecuting attorneys say that the HGN is part of an overall body of evidence they and the police use to try cases, though they admit the high court ruling will make a big difference on weaker suspected drunk driving cases that rely mainly on HGN test results.

The legislation is due in part to a nationwide campaign started by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in November 2006. The Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving has made the mandatory installation of ignition interlock devices for all DUI offenders its main focus. Buoyed by its success in Arizona and Illinois, MADD has said it will continue to push for similar laws in every state. Currently lawmakers in New York, Ohio, Louisiana and Pennsylvania are considering such action.

In addition to working on a state level, MADD has lobbied Congress with its anti-DUI strategies. As part of the Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, MADD advocates the factory installation of interlock devices in all automobiles sold in the United States.

Besides the use of interlock devices, the organization is pushing for increased law enforcement and a grassroots effort to reduce DUI incidents.

While the original content of the law called for mandatory towing, an exception allows the arresting officer the flexibility in permitting a sober passenger to drive the vehicle home without a fine.

The $500 charge for seizure of a vehicle will not be returned even if the accused motorist in found not guilty of driving under the influence in a court of law. However the driver can appeal the fine to an independent hearing officer hired by the village.

In addition the Gurnee, other suburban Chicago communities like Arlington Heights have similar DUI towing provisions.

Critics call the ordinance just a money making scheme for the village.

Banaszewski, 45, had three of her children in her 1996 Ford Econoline van, which lead to additional charges of child endangerment. Banaszewski reportedly submitted to field sobriety tests though Wheaton Deputy Police Chief Thomas Meloni did not disclose her blood alcohol level. He did indicate, however, that “probable cause was established to arrest and charge the driver with DUI.”

Banaszewski was booked at the Wheaton Police Station and later released on a personal recognizance bond. In keeping with standard procedure, her children were taken by a police officer to the home of a family friend.