DUI Suspect Hit a House and Ran

Normally, someone charged with a hit and run has hit another vehicle or a person and then made a futile and unintelligent decision to flee the scene. Normally, when someone hits a house, their car is too damaged to move.

Bess Kellebrew, 32, is a special case then, as she allegedly hit a house (in front of witnesses) and then took off, reports KSDK. Her obviously damaged vehicle was stopped on Old Route 66 by Staunton police. Sheriff’s deputies that had been investigating the damaged house were alerted and joined Staunton police in their investigation of Kellebrew.

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Shockingly enough, she showed signs of intoxication and failed field sobriety tests. She was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident, and our personal favorite, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

The speed limit in Illinois is not a hard rule. Sure, you’ll be ticketed if you go over the limit. You’ll also be ticketed if you are driving recklessly but under the speed limit. If you get into an accident, like Kellebrew, you’ll also get a ticket.

The ticket-for-accident statute reads:

Speed must be decreased as may be necessary to avoid colliding with any person or vehicle on or entering the highway in compliance with legal requirements and the duty of all persons to use due care.

Anyone else seeing her defense here? The statute says to reduce speed to avoid “any person or vehicle on or entering the highway.” It does not address getting hammered and crashing into a building that is “on or entering” the road.

The ticket though, is really the least of her problems. Between the DUI and the hit-and-run charges, she’s facing more than a ticket. Jail time is a significant possibility. Still, why pay an extra hundred bucks for a ticket when you don’t have to?

Related Resources:

• Discuss Speeding and Drunk Driving with a Chicago DUI Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
• Drunken Dirtbiking Wipeout Leads to DUI Charges (FindLaw’s Chicago DUI Blog)
• Man Hits Skateboarder, Arrested Three Blocks Later (FindLaw’s Chicago DUI Blog)
• Legal U: Don’t Ditch the Scene of an Accident! (FindLaw’s Chicago Personal Injury Law Blog)