May 09--A Stickney man last week was charged with felony drunken driving and child endangerment after being arrested in Riverside, the same town where he was arrested six years ago for similar offenses by the same police officer, authorities said.
Police allege Frederick Gomez was driving drunk with a 3-year-old child unrestrained in the back seat of his car, according to a news release from the Riverside Police Department.
Gomez, 23, of the 4300 block of Wisconsin Avenue, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, endangering the life of a child, failure to secure a child in a child-safety seat and several traffic offenses after he was pulled over Thursday night, according to the news release.
Police said Gomez had been driving south on Harlem Avenue near Addison Road at 51 mph in a 30-mph zone and had nearly struck a pickup that was going north. After he was pulled over, Gomez strongly smelled of alcohol, and the officer noticed the child "was not properly secured in a child-safety seat or in any manner at all," according to the release.
Gomez said he had been at a Cubs game and had at least seven beers, police said. He failed all six field sobriety tests he was given and was taken into custody. He refused further testing at the police station.
Police learned that Gomez had been arrested in 2010 after being stopped at Shenstone and Longcommon roads in Riverside by the same officer who arrested him last week. He pleaded guilty after the 2010 arrest to DUI and child endangerment, police said.
