A woman in a Chicago suburb was charged with a DUI after striking an 8-year-old boy on his bike with her car in front of his home as his young siblings watched, police said.
Police received a call Monday reporting a child unconscious, bleeding heavy and not responding in the 300 block of Eastgrove in Riverside, police said.
The child’s father ran to the scene as the incident occurred right outside the boy’s residence, according to police. The boy’s two siblings, a 6-year-old and 8-year-old, watched the accident occur.
Riverside officers started to render medical aid at the scene before calling paramedics to the scene. When they arrived, they transported the boy to Loyola Medical Center in Maywood who is in a medically induced coma to reduce brain swelling.
Police said they also found a woman sitting on a curb adjacent to the accident scene in tears. When police approached her, they smelled alcohol on her breath and she “seemed to be highly confused,” according to police.
The Riverside officers conducted field sobriety testing at the scene, all of which the woman failed, police said. The woman was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for a blood and urine draw, which police said is required by state law for accidents that cause great bodily harm involving alcohol and drugs.
After being released from the hospital, the woman -- identified as Cynthia Grosse -- was placed into custody for DUI, police said.
Police said in their investigation they discovered that Grosse was an elderly caretaker who was drinking while taking care of an elderly disabled person in the Village at La Grange Park. After drinking two to three beers, she drove to an elderly care facility in Oak Park to visit a friend and continued to drink alcohol.
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After leaving the Oak Park residence, Grosse was heading to her home in Lyons when she entered Riverside, police said. Grosse admitted to driving beer while driving, according to police. Additionally, police found open alcohol and solo cups with alcohol still in them from the car after the accident.
Grosse also admitted to striking the child, according to the police.
Grosse, 66, has been charged with aggravated felony DUI involving great bodily harm (a class 4 felony), failure to reduce speed to avoid accident, transportation of open alcohol and a second count of DUI for the pending blood draw, police said.
Grosse had one prior DUI arrest in 1986 in Cook County, Illinois, police said. Her attorney information wasn’t immediately available.
