Bid to lighten DUI sentence draws lecture instead

Mateo Ortiz seriously miscalculated when he requested a reduction in the five-year sentence he received Wednesday after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated driving under the influence.

Perhaps the 38-year-old Ortiz believed mentioning his young daughter would encourage Cook County Judge Thomas Fecarotta to go a little easier on him.

It didn't.

"Your problem is you just don't get it," thundered Fecarotta from the bench in Rolling Meadows courtroom 109. "Not only will I not reduce the sentence, you're lucky you're not getting 12 years."

Ortiz, of the 3600 block of Montrose Ave. in Chicago, was legally drunk on the night of Aug. 2 when the car he was driving hit a 63-year-old man as he crossed the street in the 7200 block of Forest Preserve Drive in Norridge. The impact flipped the victim over the vehicle, said Assistant State's Attorney Mike Andre during Ortiz's sentencing.

As a result, the man received a concussion and sustained a fractured tibia and fibula along with multiple abrasions and lacerations, Andre said.

Another driver, a self-described first responder, witnessed the accident and blocked Ortiz's car with his own, said Andre. While the other driver's wife called police, he exited his car, leaned into Ortiz's and snatched the keys from the ignition, preventing Ortiz from driving away, Andre said, calling the other driver "a hero."

Ortiz, who admitted he is in the country illegally, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.18, more than twice the legal limit, at the time of the accident. In addition, the defendant has a total of four drunken driving cases pending, said Andre, each under a different alias.

"I consider you a menace," said Fecarotta, noting Ortiz's penchant for changing his name with each arrest. "Our community will be a lot safer with you in the penitentiary."