DuPage board member Eckhoff not guilty of DUI

DuPage County Board member Paul Grant Eckhoff was found not guilty of DUI during a bench trial Wednesday.

Judge James Konetski ruled there was not enough evidence to find Eckhoff was impaired during a March 2015 traffic stop outside his Wheaton home.

Eckhoff, 56, pleaded guilty during the same proceedings to one count of improper lighting and was found guilty of failing to yield to an emergency vehicle.

Outside court, Eckhoff again proclaimed his innocence.

"I wasn't drunk," he said. "I was innocent."

Wheaton police officer Kayte Witten testified that she attempted to pull Eckhoff over about 8 p.m. on March 2 near Beverly Road and Manchester Drive when she noticed a burned out taillight on his silver Prius.

Witten said, and her squad dash cam video showed, that Eckhoff never pulled over, even after her lights and sirens were activated.

Eckhoff eventually came to a stop in his driveway on the 200 block of North Erie Street, she said, and opened his garage door.

Witten said she exited her SUV quickly to prevent Eckhoff from pulling into the garage and entering his home.

Both Witten and officer Cliff Dillon testified Eckhoff had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, bloodshot eyes and had admitted to drinking two Bass Ales prior to driving.

Witten said Eckhoff declined both a breath test and to perform field sobriety tests before he was arrested. Konetski ruled, however, that he saw no evidence Eckhoff was driving impaired.

Eckhoff was fined $250 for the failure to yield conviction and placed on court supervision for one year. He also earned six months of court supervision for the broken taillight.

Eckhoff, a Republican, serves as chairman of the county board's judicial and public safety committee. He won re-election in November 2014 to his position as one of three county board members representing District 4, which includes all or parts of Addison, Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Glendale Heights, Lisle, Lombard, Wheaton and Winfield.