Police believe driver who injured biker was drunk

A Mundelein man with a history of drunken driving arrests is facing new charges after his car hit and badly injured a motorcyclist, police said.

Authorities believe Sergio A. Gomez, 42, was drunk at the time of the Wednesday night crash, Mundelein police said. Blood tests were taken at a local hospital, but the results were not immediately available, police said.

Gomez hasn't had a driver's license since 1986, authorities said.

Gomez, of 277 S. Hickory St., Apt. 8, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence and felony driving with a revoked license.

He was wanted on four arrest warrants, too, for charges including DUI and driving with a revoked license, police said.

The crash happened about 9:30 p.m. on Midlothian Road south of Route 83. Gomez was pulling out of a parking lot, intending to go north, when he drove his 2000 Buick LeSabre into the southbound motorcycle, police said.

The motorcyclist, 52-year-old Jeff Requarth of Mundelein, could not have avoided the crash, Deputy Police Chief Mike O'Brien said.

Requarth was flown by emergency helicopter to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. He was in critical condition Thursday, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Gomez refused to take a sobriety test at the scene, but "there were clear signs that he was intoxicated," O'Brien said.

Gomez, formerly of Rolling Meadows, lost his driver's license in 1986 following a drunken driving arrest, according to the Illinois secretary of state' s office. He never legally got another license, a spokeswoman for the office said.

Gomez was being held Thursday at Lake County jail on $350,000 bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court Oct. 19.