A man was arrested after he allegedly drove drunk from a Bannockburn gas station, fled officers and left the scene of two crashes, prompting a multi-agency search that ended with him found hiding between homes in Highland Park.
The Bannockburn Police Department responded around 6:05 p.m. on September 8 to the Shell gas station, 1301 Half Day Road in Bannockburn, for multiple calls about a driver who appeared to be intoxicated.
One caller reported seeing a man, later identified as Ervin Mesaljic, 30, of Chicago, urinating on a tree on the west side of the gas station property, according to a Bannockburn Police Department report obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Callers told dispatchers Mesaljic was stumbling around the gas station with very little balance and almost walked into another driver’s vehicle before he got into a black 2004 Porsche Cayenne S SUV and sped away as officers arrived, the report said.
An officer tried to stop the Porsche as it sped through the parking lot but the driver turned eastbound onto Half Day Road and accelerated, moving into the left lane and pulling away even after the officer turned on their siren, according to the report.
The officer turned off their emergency lights and did not pursue the Porsche, which turned northbound onto Ridge Road and then westbound onto Shawford Way, where officers searched the neighborhood without finding it, the report said.
Bannockburn officers alerted surrounding police departments that the driver who fled may have been intoxicated.
The Highland Park Police Department received a call shortly afterward about a hit-and-run crash involving a black Porsche SUV at Half Day Road and Skokie Valley Road and the other driver involved followed the Porsche to Highmoor Road, according to the report.
Police issued an alert with details of the incident over the Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network (ISPERN), a radio network shared by police agencies across Illinois, and provided updates throughout the search.
A Bannockburn police lieutenant found the Porsche abandoned with front-end damage on Shady Lane, a dead-end street that splits off Highmoor Road, the report said.
Officers from multiple area law enforcement agencies then searched the neighborhood for Mesaljic, who is Porsche’s registered owner.
A Highmoor Road resident told officers she saw movement near her backyard shed and believed the suspect was hiding inside, according to the report.
Officers surrounded the shed until a Lake County Sheriff’s Office canine and its handler cleared it but Mesaljic was not inside, the report said.
A Highland Park police officer driving through the Hybernia Drive neighborhood, which backs up to Highmoor Road through a wooded area, saw someone peek out from a yard.
Highland Park police took Mesaljic into custody around 7 p.m. in the wooded area between two homes.
The Bannockburn Police Department charged Mesaljic with two counts of driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and disorderly conduct. He was cited for operating an uninsured motor vehicle and improper lane usage.
Highland Park Police Department charged him with driving on a suspended license and leaving the scene of a crash. He was cited for operating an uninsured motor vehicle and failing to reduce speed to avoid a crash.
The Lake Forest Police Department also charged Mesaljic with leaving the scene of a separate crash in Lake Forest.
It was not immediately known when or where in Lake Forest that crash happened or whether anyone was injured in either crash.
Mesaljic’s Illinois driver’s license has been suspended since December 15 and he claimed he had recently completed paperwork to have it reinstated, the report said.
Mesaljic had bloodshot, glassy eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage on his breath and needed help from two officers to walk to the squad car, according to the report.
He was transported to the Deerfield Police Department where he showed signs of impairment on all three standardized field sobriety tests and at one point lost his balance and had to brace himself against a wall, the report said.
Mesaljic stopped partway through the one-leg stand test and made an unclear statement that sounded like “I can’t go anymore,” according to the report.
A breath test showed Mesaljic had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.157, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, the report said.
He was cited and released from the Deerfield Police Department around 9:20 p.m.
The Bannockburn Police Department declined to release information about the incident when Lake and McHenry County Scanner initially inquired about it earlier this month, prompting the FOIA request.
Mesaljic is scheduled to appear in court on October 20 for an arraignment in the Lake Forest case, November 5 for an arraignment in the Bannockburn case and November 25 for a bench trial in the Highland Park case.