Joliet man charged with DUI in crash that injured father and child a no-show in court

A Joliet man remains at large on charges of driving under the influence of alcohol in a crash that caused injury to another driver and his 2-year-old daughter.

Fabian Salgado, 40, who has a previous DUI conviction, was found by officers after he allegedly fled the scene of the crash July 27 in Joliet, according to a court filing from Will County prosecutors.

Officers determined that Salgado had been driving with a blood-alcohol concentration of about twice the legal limit when his vehicle collided with another vehicle, court records show.

Salgado was arrested on probable cause of aggravated DUI and DUI. He was released from police custody and given a notice to appear in court Aug. 15.

Salgado did not show up to court that day. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Aug. 15 was the day prosecutors formally charged Salgado with aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm. They also filed a petition to deny his pretrial release from jail.

Prosecutors were seeking to keep Salgado in jail based on the aggravated DUI charge and his past DUI conviction.

On Tuesday, Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English said aside from the original arrest, it appears that police have not arrested Salgado. He said Salgado’s whereabouts are unknown.

Asked why Salgado was released from police custody on a notice to appear, English said, “Officers based their decision on the charges and information available at the time of the incident, and pursuant to the Illinois SAFE-T Act.”

The July 27 crash involved Salgado’s Hyundai Santa Fe and a Ford Explorer driven by a 27-year-old man.

The driver’s face was “bloodied from the impact,” and his daughter suffered a broken femur and a dislocated hip, prosecutors said.

The child was not properly restrained in a car seat, prosecutors said.

The 27-year-old driver had been issued citations for not properly restraining a child and other traffic-related offenses. But court records Tuesday did not show a traffic case filed against the driver.