Crime & Safety

Man Who Parked Diagonally Charged With Felony DUI

Oak Lawn man was supposed to have car equipped with breath-alcohol monitoring device per a court order, cops say.

A man driving a car without a court-ordered breath-alcohol monitoring device was charged with felony DUI when police found his car parked diagonally across several parking lanes on April 19, reports said.

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were called to a private parking lot around 3:06 p.m. where several people were standing outside the car, including the driver identified as James Thomas Kapelinski, 49, of the 10400 block of South Georgia Lane.

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While attempting to park, witnesses told the cops that Kapelinski allegedly hit another unoccupied car. Police said that witnesses stopped Kapelinski from fleeing the scene by taking his keys away because he was intoxicated.

Kapelinski was swaying while standing and had difficulty removing his insurance card and driver’s license from his wallet. He told police that he had a glass of wine before getting behind the wheel, reports said.

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Police said that Kapelinski failed field sobriety tests. They also discovered that he was driving on a suspended license and that his car was supposed to be equipped with breath-alcohol monitoring device as of March 31.

Kapelinski blew a .198 and was arrested on the scene. He was taken to the Oak Lawn police station where he submitted to another breath-alcohol test, blowing a .165, reports said.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office approved felony charges for aggravated DUI and aggravated DWLS. Kapelinski was being held pending a bond court hearing at the time of this report.

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