An alleged intoxicated driver who hit a U-Haul loading ramp and storage unit door in Gurnee on Saturday after what prosecutors said was “at least” his sixth DUI is being held in Lake County Jail pending a Detention court hearing Tuesday.
The Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed the necessary paperwork to detain Bradford Goar, age unknown, in Lake County Jail until trial after he was taken into custody in Gurnee Saturday afternoon, officials said.
Assistant Lake County State’s Attorney Nicholas Shepherd said Gurnee police were called to Cube Self Storage on Saturday after an intoxicated man drove into the storage unit garage door and was causing a disturbance with patrons.
The victims at the scene told police they were unloading a U-Haul truck that had a steel loading ramp extended out of the back of the vehicle when Goar drove over the ramp and into a storage unit door about 10 to 15 feet away.
Goar got out of his car, Shepherd said, and the victims snatched the keys from Goar to prevent him from driving away.
Officers arrived at the storage facility and made contact with Goar, Shepherd said, who smelled of a strong alcohol odor and displayed slurred speech and bloodshot, glassy eyes.
Shepherd said Goar needed help to stand up and nearly fell twice when speaking with officers.
Goar refused to take field sobriety tests or give a breath sample to police, Shepherd said in court.
Following a review by the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office, Goar was officially charged with Aggravated DUI 6+ offenses, a class A misdemeanor charge of DUI, and a petty driving offense for not having valid insurance.
“According to the secretary of state driving abstract, this defendant has at least five previous DUIs,” Shepherd said in court Sunday. “Quite frankly, he has more than that.”
Court records show Goar served three years and six months in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a previous aggravated DUI case in 2022.
Court records in that case indicate the charges were because he had more than six DUIs when he pleaded guilty to aggravated DUI in May of 2023.
Even though he was sentenced to 3.5 years in the 2022 case, he was only required to serve 50 percent of the sentence and received about 285 days’ credit for time he served in the Lake County Jail.
Lake County Judge Gabriel Conroe ordered Goar held in Lake County Jail pending a Detention hearing, scheduled to take place Tuesday afternoon.