Woodstock city councilman, bar owner Dan Hart acquitted of DUI charge

WOODSTOCK – A Woodstock city councilman and local bar owner was acquitted Tuesday on a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge, but a judge found Dan Hart guilty of causing and leaving the scene of an accident.

Hart, 35, must complete a low-level DUI treatment as punishment for the traffic matters. He also must complete six months of supervision and pay $1,000 in fines and court costs.

The verdicts and sentences were issued by McHenry County Judge Joel Berg, who determined there was not enough evidence to sustain a guilty verdict on the DUI charge.

By his admission, Hart drank one 12-ounce Stella Artois beer about 12:45 a.m. July 14, 2014, before closing Hart's Saloon, a bar he owns in Hebron.

Tammy Adams of Hebron said she was driving to work about 1:30 a.m. that morning when Hart came up behind her on Route 47. Adams testified that Hart was swerving and weaving, speeding up and slowing down.

Adams said she got scared for her safety, so she quickly pulled into a parking lot along Route 47 in Woodstock, when Hart clipped her rear bumper. Adams and Hart were uninjured.

Adams said Hart came up to her passenger side door, but then left without giving her his information.

Hart said he asked if she was OK, and she yelled at him to leave. Police eventually caught up to Hart a few blocks later and arrested him in his driveway.
Hart said he didn't call for help because his cellphone died.

Two Woodstock police officers testified Hart smelled of alcoholic drinks and had mildly slurred speech and glassy eyes. Hart was mostly polite and cooperative, they said.

He refused to take field sobriety tests at the time and did not submit to a breathalyzer. Hart said he refused field tests because he was wearing flip flops and had an ankle injury, and he was afraid of failing the tests.

“His refusal was not because of his ankle, but because he had consumed too much alcohol,” Assistant State’s Attorney Taylor Nesbit said.

A video from the squad car showed Hart exiting his pickup truck, and later he slightly stumbled. But for the most part, “He was straight as an arrow,” Hart’s attorney, Brian Stevens, said in closing argument. Berg agreed, pointing out that Hart had not swayed or showed other signs of intoxication on the video.

The charges were pending when Hart was elected to the Woodstock City Council in April. He was elected with the public backing of other sitting city officials.

Woodstock’s municipal prosecutor turned over the case to the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office to avoid a conflict of interest once Hart was elected to the City Council.

Hart had no comment outside the courtroom.