Trial date set for Lake Zurich trustee accused of DUI
A trial date has been set for a Lake Zurich trustee accused by police of driving drunk and crashing into a street sign.
Jim Beaudoin, 46, is set to go to trial July 11 in front of Lake County Judge Victoria O'Malley on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol and failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.
He remains free from jail on $3,000 recognizance bond but is ordered to not drive without a valid driver's license or use any drugs or alcohol.
Defense attorney Doug Zeit did not comment on the case after court Tuesday.
If found guilty, Beaudoin could be sentenced up to one year in jail and a fine.
Beaudoin, a Lake Zurich trustee since 2013, was charged March 21 after he crashed his gray Audi A4 into a "No Outlet" sign and a tree near the intersection of Prairie Lane and Cedar Street, police said. According to police documents, Beaudoin was driving west on Cedar Street about 6:20 p.m. when he tried to make a left turn onto Prairie Lane. Reports state he took the turn too wide, left the road and hit the sign and tree.
Witnesses told officers Beaudoin got out of the vehicle, surveyed the damage, then threw the sign and other debris into the back of his car, reports say.
Beaudoin, of the 500 block of Dunhill Drive, walked away from the crash, authorities said in the reports. However, a Lake Zurich police officer who responded to the scene stopped him while he was walking on Prairie Lane, police said.
Beaudion declined an ambulance, and the officer smelled alcohol on his breath, reports said. Beaudoin was asked to perform a field sobriety test, but the results were redacted from police reports.