Man charged with DUI after driving car onto lawn in Riverside

A Chicago man was charged April 15 with driving under the influence of alcohol, aggravated speeding and several other offenses after attempting to elude police before driving onto a lawn in Riverside, police said.

Charles O. Fenner, 32, of the 5000 Block of West Monroe Street, also was charged with felony driving while license revoked, a second charge of DUI alcohol misdemeanor, driving an uninsured motor vehicle and improper transportation of open alcohol, police said.

Police at 1:17 a.m. clocked a 2017 Nissan on radar at 66 miles per hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone traveling southbound on First Avenue at Ridgewood Road.

When police tried to stop the vehicle, the driver turned onto Ridgewood Road, going west, drove over the curb onto private property, through the driveway, over the sidewalk and into grass. The driver came to a stop at the front door of a house at 160 Ridgewood Road.

When police approached the car and asked the driver to step out, they could immediately smell a strong odor of alcohol coming from both the driver and inside the vehicle.

When asked for his driver’s license, Fenner said he did not have one, and it was revoked. Police checked his driver’s license status and found it to be revoked for several prior DUI convictions. When asked why he drove off the roadway, Fenner said he was trying to get off the road.

Fenner failed field sobriety tests, police said. He later took a Breathalyzer test and registered a .234, which is three times the legal limit.

Fenner has three felony aggravated DUI convictions, police said. His driver’s license was revoked for previous DUI convictions. He was arrested for aggravated DUI in February 2012, November 2013 and December 2015, police said.

“Mr. Fenner obviously fits the description of a habitual DUI offender,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said in a statement. “Considering his prior DUI convictions, we will be attempting to seize the vehicle he was driving. If we are awarded the vehicle in court, we will sell the vehicle and use the profits to fight impaired driving. If Mr. Fenner had kept driving, he would have driven directly through the front door of a Ridgewood Road home.”