Driver charged with DUI in I-90 crash that injured sheriff's officers
A driver who struck two Cook County sheriff's police cars and injured two officers, one of whom had to be extricated from his vehicle, was ordered held on $75,000 bail Thursday.
Peter Hill, 40, was charged with aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm, a class 4 felony punishable by up to three years in prison. Probation also is a possibility.
The officers were conducting a traffic stop on the interior shoulder of the eastbound I-90 near Arlington Heights Road about 11:07 p.m. Tuesday. A 2008 Acura TL sedan struck one squad car, which then struck the squad car in front of it, according to the Cook County sheriff's office and the Illinois State Police, which is investigating the crash.
The officer, who had to be extricated from his totaled vehicle, suffered two broken ribs, a concussion, head lacerations, neck and shoulder pain, and numbness, Cook County assistant state's attorney Alyssa Grissom said.
He remains hospitalized at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, she said.
The other officer, who was outside his car at the time of the crash, was treated and released, authorities said.
Hill, who has no criminal background, suffered a broken nose and lacerations to his arm. After firefighters removed Hill from the Acura's rear window, he was treated at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and released.
Hill's blood alcohol content registered .120, Grissom said. The legal threshold in Illinois is .08.
According to Grissom, Hill said he had been at the Medinah Country Club before the crash and may have been looking down at his phone at the time.
Cook County Judge Steven J. Goebel granted prosecutors' request for special conditions of bond that prohibit Hill from using drugs or alcohol and from driving.
"You're not to operate a motor vehicle under any circumstances," said Goebel, who threatened to revoke Hill's bail if he finds out he has been driving.
Hill next appears in court Jan. 4.