Public service, alcohol counseling ordered in ‘trail of fluids’ DUI case
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com October 12, 2012 7:44PM
Updated: November 15, 2012 6:40AM
A motorist who was arrested after Naperville police followed a trail of fluids leaking from beneath his damaged car has been convicted of a charge of drunken driving.
Samuel J. Demkoski, 51, was found guilty in DuPage County Circuit Court of a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence of alcohol. Court records indicated companion charges of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, failure to give information after striking an unattended vehicle or property and improper lane use were dismissed in the case.
Judge James J. Konetski on Tuesday ordered Demkoski to perform 100 hours of community service work as part of his sentence, court records showed. Konetski also placed Demkoski on 18 months of reporting court supervision, ordered him to undergo Level 3 alcohol abuse counseling and assessed a total of $3,570 in fines and court costs, according to records.
Demkoski was arrested the afternoon of March 3, after the four-door, 2001 Cadillac he was driving struck and damaged a curbside mailbox in front of a house on the 3400 block of Lawrence Drive. That is in the Ashbury neighborhood on the city’s far south side.
Police Sgt. Gregg Bell in March said the homeowner witnessed the crash, which also dislodged several of the car’s parts that police found on the pavement.
Patrol officers “followed fluids from the crash” back to a home on the 1300 block of Conan Doyle Road, Bell said. That address is about a half-mile east of the crash site.
Bell said police spoke to Demkoski, “who was highly intoxicated” at the time. Paramedics took him to the emergency room of Edward Hospital in Naperville, where he underwent observation before being released.
