Nov 23, 2007 7:46 pm US/Central
Cop In Fatal DUI Crash Relieved Of Police Powers
2 Dead, 1 Injured In Thanksgiving Day Accident
CHICAGO (AP) ―
A Chicago police officer charged with drunken driving in connection with a car crash that killed two men and injured another has been relieved of police powers and assigned to desk duty pending an internal investigation of the allegations.
John Ardelean, 33, was off duty at the time of the two-vehicle crash which happened before 3 a.m. Thursday on the city's North Side.
Ardelean was driving a sport utility vehicle that crashed into a sedan carrying three Cicero men: Miguel Flores, 22, Erick Lagunas, 21, and Reynaldo Barajas, 21.
Lagunas, who was ejected from the sedan, was later pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Flores was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.
Barajas was taken in serious condition to Cook County's Stroger Hospital.
Ardelean, a five-year veteran of the police department, was charged with misdemeanor DUI and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, Chicago police spokesman John Mirabelli said Friday. Police had originally reported Thursday that Ardelean had been charged with driving left of center.
"Charges very well could be increased at some point during the investigation," police spokesman Pat Camden said in a story posted Friday on the Chicago Tribune's Web site. "This is an ongoing investigation."
The charges were not upgraded Friday, said Cook County state's attorney spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
Ardelean, who declined medical attention Thursday following the crash, also refused to take a blood-alcohol test at the scene.
"He refused the test. You have the right to refuse the test," Camden told the Tribune. "(Evidence) can be based on your appearance, based on the officers on the scene, based on a number of different factors."
It was unclear Friday whether Ardelean had an attorney. A telephone listing for Ardelean could not be located Friday.
Messages left Friday by the Associated Press for the Fraternal Order of Police were not immediately returned.
Ardelean is due in traffic court Jan. 23.
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