At 1 a.m. on Oct. 2, 1988, Aurora police officer John Long happened upon a
green 1960s Rambler on the roadside.
Long's written description of what he found was chilling: "Subject was
slumped over the steering wheel of his vehicle while it was parked in the
ditch with the motor running and a beer bottle between his legs."
The car and its driver, David G. Springs of Batavia were more than familiar
to Aurora police from prior arrests, including a drunken driving arrest a
year earlier - his fifth such case at the time, court records indicate.
As Springs' 1988 drunken driving arrest began rolling through the courts,
those around him rose to defend and find excuses for him.
David's now-deceased father, Caleb Springs, said he "had no concerns" about
his son's use of drugs and alcohol and that his DUIs "were a reflection of
immaturity rather than alcohol and drugs problems," according to a substance
abuse review done in 1989 by DuPage County circuit court.
At that time, the 29-year-old already had accumulated three DUI arrests.
And the next 12 years would prove Caleb Springs wrong.
His son, now 41, would be arrested for drunken driving at least four more
times - and he never had a valid license. He may never get his license back
now because he has so many convictions.
In all, David Springs has been arrested on drunken driving charges nine
times in Illinois since 1984, all in Kane and DuPage counties, court records
show.
Three cases are pending, and Springs was convicted of four of the other six,
court records show.
Following each incident, he has proven to be a problem as hard to solve for
courts, probation offices, police departments and substance abuse counselors
as he has been for his family.
Courts have increasingly punished Springs, first with fines and probation,
then with longer probation and treatment, then with fines, jail time,
probation and more treatment, and finally with time in state prison.
As Springs' most recent three drunk driving arrests attest, time behind bars
has proven to be the only remedy that definitively keeps him from driving
drunk.
Although Springs' story is all too common for the worst of the repeat
drunken driving offenders, his case also illustrates a lesser-known aspect
of repeat drunken drivers' stories: the role family and friends play in
perpetuating their problem.
In arrest after arrest, family and friends bonded out Springs and then gave
him money to hire an attorney.
And as shown in the interview his father gave to a clinician, those same
family and friends continued to largely ignore or rationalize his drunken
driving history.
David Springs declined to be interviewed for this story, but his mother,
Geraldine Springs, recently talked to a reporter outside her Batavia home,
where David was raised and still lives with her, his girlfriend and his
girlfriend's two children.
It's a comfortable home on a large lot where Geraldine Springs still gets
help from her son keeping the gardens looking nice.
It was just the kind of home the Springs family was looking for when they
moved from Chicago's West Side in 1963 seeking a country town with good
schools. It also put them closer to the couple's work. Caleb Springs was an
engineer for Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, and his wife worked in
the lab's health department.
The Springses immersed themselves in the Batavia community, with both
parents working with the local Boy Scouts, and Caleb Springs serving at
various times on the city's planning commission and on the local school's
PTA.
Even now, 12 years after his father explained away David Springs' drinking
as immaturity, his mother can't help but try to find other explanations for
her son's drinking problem.
"It was something a lot of the kids around here did," she said. "But he
loves beer. I try not to give him money so he can drink it."
She laments that she has helped her son out of more than a few jams that his
drinking got him into.
"I've already paid out about $3,000. I'm not going to pay any more," she
said, though she later acknowledges she's paid out much more than that over
the years, and even took out a loan last year to pay the $5,000 needed on a
$50,000 bond for him to be released from jail on a drunken driving arrest.
David's girlfriend has bonded him out of jail before, and his father, who
died two years ago, paid out thousands of dollars in bond and lawyers fees
for his only son, Geraldine Springs said.
David's drinking troubles bothered Caleb Springs "but he'd cover up for
him," Geraldine Springs said. "I guess he thought they'd go away."
She said in addition to a love of beer and growing up with friends who
drank, her sensitive son drinks more during stressful times in his life -
another trait repeat drunken drivers share, said Tom Scott, special programs
manager for Kane County Court Services.
"You and I might just go out running (to relieve stress)," Scott said. "But
these people drink."
Geraldine Springs attributes her son's last three drunken driving arrests -
which occurred within 16 months after eight years without such an arrest,
court records show - to the stress of both losing a job at an Aurora lumber
company and his father's death in 1998.
David Springs' record illustrates a seemingly contradictory trait of repeat
drunken drivers: a regular work history.
It has been unusual for David Springs to be unemployed. Even when he hasn't
worked for someone else, his ability to fix just about anything mechanical
has always kept some money in his pocket.
Assistant Kane County State's Attorney Joe McMahon, who leads the county
state's attorney's criminal division, has seen cases like David Springs'
before.
"I think the repeat drunk DUI offender is a little different than other
repeat criminals," McMahon said. "I think they generally are employed, have
families still involved in their lives and they have the ability to post
bail, so they do."
Springs now faces three felony drunken driving cases, which are Class 3
felonies punishable by two to five years in prison. State law allows judges
to extend a sentence to 10 years in extreme cases - something McMahon said
his office would recommend for repeat offenders like Springs.
But state laws on drunken driving haven't kept up with increased penalties
for other repeat criminals, McMahon said.
"I think the public would strongly support enhanced penalties for someone
who reoffends within a close period of time," he said.
So what do those closest to David Springs think would work?
His mother said she simply tries to "keep the keys away from him," although
Springs was driving his mother's Ford Taurus when he was stopped for drunken
driving twice - once in 1998 and once in 1999.
Although helping her son out of his all-too-frequent jams doesn't seem to
help, Geraldine Springs said she can't help herself.
Every time she has gotten him out of jail, she said: "He knows I'm mad. Oh,
we have words. I tell him: 'I'm tired of it and I'm not going to (get him
out) again!'" she said. "But you do do it again. It's blood. He's my only
son. You always think it's the last time."
David G. Springs