How A Car Got Stuck On Elmhurst Railroad Tracks

Elmhurst IL

14 July, 2021

8:10 AM

Description

ELMHURST, IL — Early the morning of the Fourth of July, Elmhurst police got a call that a car was parked on the railroad tracks at St. Charles Road. The man, identified as Antonio Vazquez, 27, of Hanover Park, told officers that he had been stuck there five minutes. He was later arrested on a charge of DUI. About 4 a.m., officers came into contact with Vazquez, who was in a Nissan Sentra on the tracks, police said. The car had crash damage, the passenger side front tire was shredded, and the wheel was bent and mangled, appearing as if Vazquez had been driving on the rim for a while, according to a police report obtained through a public records request. The report said an officer had Vazquez get out of the car and move away from the tracks. The car was towed away. Vazquez told officers he was not sure how his car wound up on the railroad tracks. When asked what he had struck, Vazquez replied, "I don't know what I f------ hit," the report said. He told police he was heading to Hanover Park and was coming from his family's house, but said he did not know where that house was, according to the report. Police said Vazquez was unsteady on his feet and staggering, his speech was slow and slurred, and he had a strong odor of alcohol on his breath. But he initially denied drinking or doing drugs that night. Before one of the field sobriety tests, an officer asked Vazquez whether he had any problems walking, police said. He said he did not. But when he started failing the test, he said he had "bad ankles," explaining that he had broken them playing soccer when he was 12 or 13, the report said. Vazquez was then asked where he was on a sobriety scale of zero to 10, with zero being sober. He immediately responded that he was a three, police said. Asked whether he felt "a little buzzed," he replied, "Yeah, yeah," according to the report. Asked what he had been drinking, he said, "Nothing. I don't really know what to tell you," the report said. When an officer said Vazquez had been drinking, he finally said he had been, but not a lot, police said. At the police station, Vazquez's breath test showed he had a blood-alcohol content of .21, nearly three times the legal limit, police said. Vazquez was released on bond.