Drunk cyclist pleads guilty to avoid 7 years in jail

Charles Braun says he simply was taking advantage of a beautiful day last April when he hopped aboard his bicycle and rode to a McHenry County forest preserve to spend some time with nature.

Unfortunately for him, Braun's was no ordinary bicycle and the Oakwood Hills man was in no ordinary state of mind.

Braun, authorities say, was enjoying his ride through nature intoxicated at a level almost 3½ times the legal limit for driving a motor vehicle.

That might not have been a problem if not for the small motor propelling his black Schwinn -- and his four prior DUI violations.

It became a big problem when the bicycle swerved into traffic and collided with a car, leaving Braun not only with a dislocated shoulder but also facing felony drunken-driving charges that could have put him in prison for seven years.

Braun, 44, avoided that fate Friday by pleading guilty to a reduced DUI charge that spares him a prison sentence and instead places him on nonreporting probation for the next two years.

Although he maintained Friday that the charges against him were "a joke," Braun said he took the plea deal because a conviction on the initial aggravated DUI charges would have left him facing a mandatory three to seven years in prison.

"I'm not going to gamble with that," he said. "I'll save my gambling for the riverboat."

Contrary to his prior claims, Braun admitted Friday that his bike's small, two-cycle engine was running when he crashed on an Oakwood Hills road on April 21. But the motor, he said, propelled the bike at no more than 10 to 15 miles per hour, a speed he just as easily could have reached by pedaling.

"It's not like I was on the tollway doing 80 mph," he said. "It's a toy."

Prosecutors, however, said Braun's decision to go for a bike ride while drunk endangered not only himself, but everyone else on the roads that day.

"In this case he only hurt himself, but the laws are there to protect the public and he was a public-safety hazard," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein said.

Braun's plea agreement also requires him to pay a $500 fine and undergo DUI counseling. He was sentenced to 42 days in jail as part of the deal, time he had already served.