JOLIET, IL — Last week, the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow filed felony charges of aggravated driving under the influence against 63-year-old Joliet resident and repeat DUI offender Keith Whately Sr. Whately is also charged with aggravated driving while license revoked. According to court records, this marks Whately's third DUI.
The Joliet Police Department's complaint against Whately indicates the Feb. 8 traffic stop happened on Briggs Street and Whately has prior DUI convictions from 2000 in Will County and 2008 in Grundy County and "said violation being a third violation and at the time of the third violation, the alcohol concentration in the defendant's blood, breath other bodily substance or urine was 0.16 or more."
According to the Will County State's Attorney's Office petition to deny pretrial release for Whately, at 8:06 p.m., a two-person Joliet police patrol unit was near Washington Street and Boulder Avenue when Whately's car tried to pull onto Washington in front of them. The officers had to abruptly slow down to avoid striking Whately's car. They followed him and saw him "struggling to maintain his lane within the lanes, touching both the center divider and the curb lane markings."
The officers kept following and saw him almost strike a concrete bridge wall, court records show. The officers then pulled over Whately's Toyota Corolla at Briggs Street and an open can of Busch Light was in the center cup holder; Whately furnished his state ID and valid insurance for the vehicle. Whately had an odor of alcoholic beverage, the court files show, and he slurred his words, indicating he was coming from his friend's house.
When Joliet police asked if he had anything to drink that day, Whately answered, "It's the Super Bowl, what do you think?" prosecutors informed Will County Judge John Pavich.
Joliet police made Whately step out of his car and they inquired how many drinks he consumed.
"He replied they had a couple shots and beers about two hours ago," court documents indicate.
Whately refused to perform any field sobriety tests and he remarked, "You can do whatever you want to do. Yes, we had a couple drinks."
When an officer asked a second time if Whately wanted to participate in field sobriety testing, the Joliet man responded, "I'm drunk. I'll admit I had a few drinks. I'm intoxicated. You want me to lie or tell the truth?" prosecutors noted.
At that point, Whately stopped leaning on his car and he almost fell next to the vehicle, the court filing indicated.
Joliet police then placed Whately under arrest for DUI. A passenger inside his car was allowed to leave.
Back at the police station, Whately agreed to provide a breath sample.
"It should be noted that in the jail, Keith stated several times on camera he was intoxicated. At the station, he blew a 0.172. (Whately) is DUI revoked with two prior DUIs and three prior (driving under suspension offenses)," prosecutors noted.
Last Friday, Judge Pavich, who is running to win the March 17 Democrat primary to become a justice on the Illinois Appellate Court's Third District, rejected the Will County State's Attorney's Office petition seeking to put Whately in the county jail. Instead, the judge ordered Whately to remain free on GPS electronic monitoring and on home confinement from 12:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Court files indicate that Whately comes from the 400 block of Joliet's North Briggs Street.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. [Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.](/illinois/joliet/subscribe)