VIDEO: Impaired Driver Rescued By Arlington Heights Police Officer, Dundee and Kennicott

VIDEO: An Arlington Heights police officer cut off the ignition of a Honda Civic driven by an impaired driver before the vehicle entered the Dundee Road and Kennicott Avenue intersection Friday during a rush hour with snow and ice (Police intervention is at 3:15 elapsed time).

UPDATE: The driver/subject of this article has been charged with DUI/Alcohol, DUI/Drugs, DUI/Intoxicating Compound, Improper Traffic Lane Usage and Unlawful Stopping/Standing/Parking.

Impaired driver and innocent motorists rescued by Arlington Heights police officer before impaired driver’s vehicle reaches busy intersection.

Arlington Heights police responded about 5:37 p.m. Friday to a make-your-own case call after an impaired driver was reported possibly DUI on westbound University Drive and then northbound Kennicott Avenue.

The driver was first observed by another motorist running a red light, traveling from eastbound Hintz Road to northbound Arlington Heights Road. The driver made a wide turn hitting the Arlington Heights Road median just north of Hintz Road. The vehicle, a Honda Civic, was driven down the center lane markers between the curb lane and the center lane of Arlington Heights Road. The driver then began to bounce off the curb and slowed to a stop, then immediately started again to proceed northbound on Arlington Heights Road.

Next the driver turned left to proceed westbound on University Drive and again bouncing off the curb. The driver came to the T-intersection at University Drive and Kennicott Avenue, blowing the stop sign and heading straight through the intersection until almost hitting the curb. The driver then made a hard right and traveled northbound in the southbound lane of Kennicott Avenue. The driver almost hit a southbound vehicle, but passed it on the southbound vehicle’s passenger side. The driver continued north on Kennicott Avenue in the southbound lane and almost hit another southbound car head-on. The driver of the Honda Civic passed the southbound vehicle on the driver’s side and continued northbound after traveling an S-curve on the wrong side of the road. After the S-curve, the driver returned to the northbound lanes of Kennicott Avenue and stopped behind the brake lights of vehicles waiting in the left turn lane of northbound Kennicott Avenue to westbound Dundee Road.

When the traffic signal turned green, the line of cars proceeded. The driver of the Honda Civic did not advance — leaving about four or five car-lengths in front of him to the Dundee Road intersection. The driver then advanced slowly and came to a stop again. When the driver appeared to be unresponsive to the traffic signal, the witness called 9-1-1 again to report that the driver appeared to have lost consciousness and requested paramedics.

The impaired driver then advanced again, and began to pass the crosswalk. Cross traffic on Dundee Road, which moves at about 40-50 mph, began to sound their horns at the driver of the Honda Civic. An Arlington Heights police arrived and immediately opened the door of the vehicle and reached for the car to turn off the engine by the key/ignition switch. Paramedics arrived less than a minute later, and transferred the male driver to the ambulance.

The driver was transported to Northwest Community Hospital where a workup was determining whether he was medically impaired or DUI.