41-Year-Old Romeoville Woman Arrested for DUI Drugs: Police Report

A 41-year-old Romeoville woman was charged with DUI/drugs, three counts of disobeying a traffic control device and driving without a valid license following an incident that occurred in suburban Riverside early Sunday morning, Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a news release.

Weitzel said Shannon P. McKinney, 41, of the 300 block of Harbor Court, Romeoville, was charged after a state-certified drug recognition enforcement officer conducted standardized field sobriety tests and took McKinney's vital signs.

Weitzel said McKinney failed field sobriety tests after she was observed driving through three red lights in Riverside, the first at the intersection of Harlem Avenue and East Burlington Street, in an incident that occurred at 2:20 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 8. She was stopped in the 3300 block of South Harlem Avenue, Weitzel said.

At that point, McKinney exited her vehicle and told the officer on the scene about an alleged stolen vehicle report she had filed with the Berwyn Police Department earlier in the evening, Weitzel said.

"Through investigation, it was learned that this information was false," Weitzel said. "As the officer did not detect an odor of alcohol on her breath, he asked her what medications she was on. She stated that earlier in the evening when she tried to report her car stolen in Berwyn, the officers who investigated the case thought she was high.

"Riverside Police summoned Berwyn Police to the scene of the traffic stop and they confirmed that they had no prior contacts with Ms. McKinney," Weitzel said.

Weitzel said McKinney's vital signs were taken by the state-certified drug recognition officer. He said her blood pressure was elevated, her body temperature was higher than normal, her pupils were found to be dilated, the inside of her mouth and tongue had dark stains throughout and a check of her hand showed dark stains on her right index finger consistent with a position in which crack cocaine is used to hold the crack pipe.

"When questioned about possible cocaine use, McKinney said that she was a recovering crack cocaine addict and had not used crack in over 11 years," Weitzel said. "However, when officers checker her criminal history, they found that she had an arrest in 2006 for possession of a controlled substance."

Weitzel said McKinney was arrested for DUI/drugs and driving under the influence of a central nervous system stimulate and, in the officer's opinion, was unable to operate a vehicle safely. He said the arrest was based on McKinney's unsafe driving, as well as multiple general indicators of someone being impaired by a central nervous system stimulant, including being talkative, having dry mouth, having eyelid tremors and restlessness.

"I recently sent one of my officers to drug recognition enforcement training," Weitzel stated in the news release. "This training allows officers to conduct certain tests that are indicators of drug-impaired driving. The drug-impaired driving can include the use of illegal or legal narcotic substances."

Weitzel cited the example medical marijuana.

"There are only 30 officers in the State of Illinois that are certified drug recognition officers and many DUI drug offenders go free and are not criminally charged," he stated in the news release. "This is due to the state not training enough officers to be experts in drug recognition DUI enforcement.

"With the new medical marijuana statue that has been passed in Illinois, it is imperative that every law enforcement agency in the State of Illinois have a drug recognition enforcement officer."