Roselle cops go viral with photos of tree stuck in car's grille
Roselle police were looking for an attention-grabbing story to lure viewers to their recently relaunched Facebook page.
They didn't have to search far.
Deputy Chief Roman Tarchala said photos of a Jan. 23 DUI arrest, in which a driver struck and uprooted a 15-foot-tall tree that became lodged in her car's grille, seemed like the perfect post for the new page to warn about the dangers of drinking and driving.
Three days after the photos hit Facebook, they've been shared 20,000 times and received 13,000 “Likes.”
“We thought we had a good eye-catching story that would send the message not to drink and drive,” Tarchala said Monday. “We had no idea it would go viral.”
He said someone called 911 to report the 2004 Lincoln driving south on Roselle Road from Irving Park Road around 11:10 p.m. Jan. 23. Police spotted the car almost immediately.
“It's not every day you see a car driving around with a large tree planted in the grille,” Tarchala said. “She was pretty easy to locate.”
The driver, Maryann Christy, 54, of the 500 block of Spruce Court in Schaumburg, told police she did not know when or where she struck the tree, authorities said. She was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, driving an uninsured motor vehicle and having an obstructed windshield. Police said her air bags also had deployed.
Tarchala said Christy smelled of alcohol and failed field sobriety tests. She refused the breath test.
Christy was released on $3,000 bail and has an April 15 court date in DuPage County.