The Town of Cicero and President Larry Dominick will be participating in and supporting a drive to adopt a new law that would require every motorist/driver involved in an accident that includes a fatality to be required to take a breathalizer test to determine blood-alcohol level regardless of whether the driver appears or does not appear to be intoxicated.

The new law would prevent instances of political clout where individuals who may be intoxicated are allowed to delay or not take breathalizer tests.

The law is inspired by the case involving the deaths of two innocent motorists whose car was struck by a Chicago police officer who was suspected of being intoxicated but was not required to take the breathalizer test until many hours later.

Relatives of the two victims, Miguel Flores, 22, and Erick Lagunas, 21, believe the officer was given the benefit of political and fraternal clout, to assist him in avoiding responsibility for the crash that took two innocent lives.

Last April, Cook County Criminal Court Judge Thomas V. Gainer Jr., approved a motion to suppress DUI evidence against Chicago Police Officer John Ardelean. Ardelean was charged with aggravated DUI and reckless homicide in the crash that killed Flores and Lagunas.

Family members believe that had Ardelean been forced to take a breathalizer test immediately at the scene of the accident, the outcome and evidence would have been different.

"I am urging everyone to support this measure to help pass the new law which we are calling the Flores/Lagunas Law in honor of the two victims whose lives were cut short by an apparent drunk driving incident," said Town President Larry Dominick.

"Everyone knows that the outcome of this tragedy would have been different if the individual involved in causing the accident had been forced to take a breathalizer test immediately at the scene, rather than hours later. I stand by the families who are demanding justice and for all the families who might experience a similar tragedy. We need to remove the appearance and opportunity for clout to play a roll in the outcome of these kinds of unfortunate cases. The law might not bring back the victims, but it could prevent more tragedies like this from occurring."

Joining at a protest rally Wednesday July 28 will be members of the The Flores the Lagunas families, along with the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists (AAIM), State Sen. MartinS andoval, State Rep. Lisa Hernandez and Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.

BACKGROUND:

Currently, motorists involved in these types of crashes are only required to take a breathalyzer test if the officer suspects the motorist is under the influence.

It's up to the responding police officer to make that decision, but not all drunk drivers look or smell intoxicated. There is only one way to be sure that the driver was not intoxicated and that is by making a breathalyzer test or field sobriety test at the time of the crash mandatory.

We believe that must be changed.


RALLY PRESS CONFERENCE
Wednesday July 28, 2010
Cicero Stadium, 1909 S. Laramie, Cicero, IL
Wednesday, July 28th 7 pm