
Will County holiday court Judge Rolonda Mitchell let aggravated DUI defendant Christopher Gonzalez out of jail under the SAFE-T-Act.
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JOLIET — A 42-year-old semi-truck driver who lives in the Ingalls Park area of Joliet’s east side was nearly four times the legal limit to be drunk in Illinois when he plowed into an oncoming car along Maple Road, leaving four people, including two children ages 4 and 7, all critically injured, according to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office of Jim Glasgow.
Even though Glasgow’s prosecutors requested indefinite jail time for criminal defendant Christopher Gonzalez, one of Will County’s newest judges, Rolonda Mitchell, who was serving as this weekend’s holiday court judge, disagreed.
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Although Glasgow charged Gonzalez with four counts of aggravated driving under the influence, Judge Mitchell ordered the release of the semi-truck driver. Mitchell also put stipulations in his pre-trial release allowing him to travel to Indiana and several neighboring states for work.
The criminal complaint indicates that Gonzalez, of Joliet’s 200 block of Davison Street, was driving a Mack semi-truck and fuel tanker going east on Maple Road around 1:35 p.m. Friday when he crossed into the eastbound lane and into the westbound Chevy Tahoe driven by a woman, was traveling with another woman as her front seat passenger, plus two children, ages 4 and 7, in the backseat.
The front seat adult passenger landed on the road, according to prosecutors, and the driver was extricated. All four were taken to Loyola Hospital in critical condition, prosecutors noted.
As for Gonzalez, he refused to exit his semi-truck when the Will County Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene of the horrific head-on crash, prosecutors pointed out.
“He was irate, uncooperative and made a fist at the deputies,” prosecutors indicated. “Eventually the defendant was taken to the hospital where he had glassy bloodshot eyes, an odor of alcohol on his breath and stated he had been drinking all day.”
A blood draw at the hospital showed that Gonzalez had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.309, which is practically four times the legal limit in Illinois; the defendant had a valid driver’s license, prosecutors acknowledged.
Will County Sheriff’s put Gonzalez into the jail around 7:30 p.m. and he slept there in his cell on Friday night and Saturday night. Following Sunday’s court hearing before Judge Mitchell, she ordered him to go home, under the SAFE-T-Act, and he walked out of the jail around 1:35 p.m.
According to Will County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer:
The deputies were called to Maple Road and Porter Avenue for a collision with injuries. The Chevy Tahoe had heavy front end damage with four passengers. A woman, age 43, who was the front seat passenger, was laying on the ground with multiple injuries.
Joliet Police and East Joliet Fire arrived and the passenger was taken to Silver Cross for medical treatment. Deputies also observed the driver, a 37-year-old woman, was wedged inside due to damage. East Joliet Fire deployed the jaws of life to extract the driver. She was later transferred to Loyola Hospital. The two children, ages 7 and 4, were located in the rear seats and both were later transferred to Loyola with multiple injuries.
As for Gonzalez, he was driving the Mack semi-truck, pulling a fuel tanker, and he appeared to be making a left turn to head north on Porter when he collided with the front driver’s side of the Tahoe, which was westbound on Maple, according to Hoffmeyer.
In court on Sunday, Judge Mitchell told Gonzalez that while his case awaits trial, he must remain under home confinement from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. and he must get a SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) device as part of his home detention/house arrest.
He must also abstain from drinking any more alcohol, under the judge’s order.
This marks Gonzalez’s fourth time in the Will County Jail since October 2018. Rockdale police arrested him in February on domestic battery charges, and he was kept in the Will County Jail on that case Feb. 18 to 20, jail logs shows.
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