Local DUI Bulldog Prosecutor Killed In Crash

This local story came on the heels of the nationally covered incident a month or so ago of the New Jersey Governor Corzine nearly being killed in a car accident. One we wrote about in which the car he was riding in was breaking a number of laws immediately preceding the accident, speeding over 90 miles an hour being the most egregious one. Yet another high profile public official blatantly eschewing laws that we normal citizens must adhere to or pay high very prices if caught violating them.

Last week in Chicagoland a well known prosecutor in DuPage County, a collection of suburbs west of Chicago, was sadly killed in a car accident that originally was painted as an unfortunate single car wreck for the most part of a high profile individual. However that turns out to have been inaccurate and was known at the time of the crash essentially being withheld (covered up) by the States Attorney Joseph Birkett pending the actual toxicology test results. (see article)

So it's now revealed that the laws being broken at the time rival some of the worst DUI cases that come through that courthouse day in and day out. Another interesting fact is that this county just happens to be one of the most notoriously aggressive counties in the United States when it comes to driving under the influence prosecutions and I can confirm this from my own unique personal experiences.

So in the story excerpt below is a laundry list of offenses this one time pillar of the community was committing at the time of her untimely and tragic death. Offenses by the way that she made a comfortable living prosecuting thousands of offenders of these very crimes as well as many other prolific cases she participated in throughout her career as both a Cook County and then Dupage prosecuting attorney.

When people involved in law enforcement capacities flaunt and break the laws I find it particularly unsettling then contemplating the magnitude of which these people actually do break the laws wondering how they live with themselves when doing so . Here you have someone who has the power to literally destroy others lives for mistakes and transgressions they may make who then turns right around and commits the very same offenses with often no repercussions really angers me, as you know it's not uncommon and really makes one lose all confidence in the law enforcement system from top to bottom.

Meanwhile she is secretly spending her personal life obviously being either lucky or using her obvious clout to escape previous detection or arrest as the article claims nobody ever witnessed any previous evidence of a drinking problem. That's quite hard to believe as this woman was certainly no casual drinker but an active alcoholic considering the now revealed crash circumstances (2 1/2 times over the legal limit of .08) who luckily ( but not luckily) only killed herself that night and not any other innocent citizens in this 4 car head on collision.

The duplicity of all public officials is certainly nothing new as those in power traditionally abuse it in one way or another and always will, that's what humans do. This is just another example of the ridiculousness of our laws sometimes when there are seemingly rules for the rulemakers and then different ones for everyone else. This particular time the offender sadly paid the ultimate price for breaking these laws that night and probably got away with it countless other times leading up to it.

Drunk official on cell, speeding 80 mph during accident
(also wearing no seat belt while driving a county paid for vehicle!!! chicagoray's added words)

Chicago Tribune: "Two weeks after a top DuPage County prosecutor was killed in a crash in which she was driving drunk in a county car, the sheriff released a report showing that she was traveling at 85 m.p.h. in a 45 m.p.h. zone, not wearing a seat belt and using a cell phone when the wreck occurred.

The Friday afternoon release of the report into Jane Radostits' death coincided with the announcement that Radostits' close friend and colleague, Deputy Chief Assistant State's Atty. Jeffrey Kendall, who was with her at a restaurant where she was drinking for several hours before the crash, resigned." "Words cannot express all of the emotions I am going through these last few weeks or my feelings upon reading this report," State's Atty. Joseph Birkett said Friday. "Jane suffered a terrible death in an otherwise remarkable career. My heart is broken. On top of that, losing Jeff is a terrible blow, but we will get through it."

The 32-page report, which covers interviews with colleagues of Radostits and witnesses to the crash, states that Radostits, Kendall, as many as six other prosecutors and a secretary in the office met at an Oak Brook restaurant after a bomb threat prompted the evacuation of the state's attorney's office about 9:30 a.m. May 11. continued

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