Leaving the scene of an accident can mean stiffer penalties

There's no place like home.

After an unsettling incident, home can mean sanctuary - a safe haven to which people return.

It's where a DuPage County Circuit Court judge and a Cook County mayor's son each went earlier this summer after they crashed the vehicles they were driving into parked cars in two separate incidents.

Witnesses to the June 18 car crash in an Elk Grove Village apartment parking lot involving Craig Johnson Jr., son of Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson, said Johnson Jr. behaved erratically and looked "disoriented."

Witnesses to a June 29 incident in Glen Ellyn involving DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth L. Popejoy reported seeing his Jeep Liberty strike an unoccupied car and narrowly miss a teenage jogger.

Both left the scene before reporting the accidents to police. Getting home wasn't exactly sanctuary - they were quickly tracked down and presented with multiple charges - but their actions stirred separate controversies over a similar issue: Do drivers in such cases avoid the possibility of more serious charges by reaching home?

Court authorities say no.

"Leaving the scene of a property damage accident and driving under the influence carry the same penalties. If you are convicted of either, you lose your license," Wheaton attorney Donald Ramsell said.

While both are Class A misdemeanors, there is a difference. A first-time DUI charge means a six- or 12-month suspension of one's driver's license upfront, Ramsell said, whereas a person charged with leaving the scene of a property-damage accident will lose his or her license only upon a conviction - if at all.

"Ninety percent of people arrested on charges of a first-time DUI lose their license for six to 12 months," Ramsell said. "Probably the complete opposite is true for leaving the scene of a property accident, where less than 10 percent of people lose their license for a first-time offense."

But he added that leaving the scene often can eliminate the possibility of avoiding prosecution.

"By leaving the scene, you guarantee you'll be prosecuted," Ramsell said. "It's easier to prove (a driver) left the scene than to prove (a driver) is under the influence."

Police did not require either Popejoy or Johnson Jr. to take Breathalyzer or field-sobriety tests, because they said the men did not exhibit signs of intoxication such as slurred speech or bloodshot, glassy eyes. Defense attorneys who have represented others charged with similar offenses say that's typical for defendants who - like Johnson Jr. and Popejoy - have no criminal background and claim their vehicles had mechanical problems that could have played a role in the incidents.

Still, suspicions linger.

Last Monday, Johnson Jr. pleaded guilty to leaving the scene and failure to provide information to police. In exchange, he received court supervision and was ordered to perform community service. A day later, Popejoy pleaded guilty to reckless driving and was sentenced to six months conditional discharge and ordered to write an apology to the 13-year-old jogger he nearly hit.

Both defendants paid fines.

Ramsell called the sentences typical.

"For first offenders with a clean record, 99 percent get court supervision," said Ramsell, who describes sentencing in such cases as "a pendulum of discipline that swings along with character, history, attitude and responsibility."

In those cases, supervision or conditional discharge and a fine, coupled with restitution and community service, are appropriate sentences after a guilty plea or a finding of guilt, retired Cook County Circuit Court Judge James Geocaris said. But he added that the defendant's record is an issue, both regarding the driver's hit-and-run sentencing and whether he could face tougher charges after being tracked down at home after a crash.

The court deals more severely with defendants who have injured someone or who have prior convictions for leaving an accident scene, said Geocaris, former presiding judge of Rolling Meadows' Third Municipal District, who served 30 years on the bench. "You have to consider the nature of the crime," he said.

Arlington Heights attorney Ernie Blomquist, who prosecuted Johnson Jr. last week after the Elk Grove Village attorney recused himself from the case, noted that reckless driving and leaving an accident scene are crimes, even if the guilty driver attaches a note to the windshield of the damaged car. They are Class A misdemeanors punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. If the accident resulted in serious injury or death and/or if drugs or alcohol contributed to the accident, prosecutors can elevate the charges to felonies for which a conviction carries a more severe punishment, Blomquist said.

Moreover, in the digital age of camera and video cell phones, Ramsell noted, it has become more difficult for people to get away with leaving the scene of an accident. In fact, attorneys say, drivers who flee often arrive home to find police waiting.

"I think the offense of leaving the scene of a property crime or accident is cowardly, not to mention stupid and dangerous," Blomquist said, but added "the punishment has to fit the crime."

And although some may think Popejoy and Johnson Jr. got off easy, their guilty pleas earned them a criminal record and fines, authorities said.

Additionally, the conviction will affect their insurance rates and credit rating, Blomquist said.