Woman charged in Elburn with DUI, endangering her children

ST. CHARLES TOWNSHIP – A DeKalb woman was charged with drunken driving after police found her asleep at the wheel with two children in carseats in the back seat, according to Kane County Sheriff’s reports.

Taylor E. Talaga, 22, of the 900 block of Ridge Drive, DeKalb, was also charged March 9 with endangering the life of a child, reckless driving, illegal transportation of alcohol and stopping or prohibited parking.

Deputies found Talaga after following up on a driving complaint shortly after 9:30 p.m. about a gray car driving on a rim with smoke coming from it going west on Route 38 from Route 47 in Elburn, the report stated.

Deputies found what appeared to be gouge marks on the right side of the westbound lane where the right side tires would make contact with the pavement – and followed them – the report stated.

The gouge marks led deputies to County Line Road in Maple Park, then east on Main Street Road, the report stated.

The gouge marks wove in and out of the lane, eventually leading deputies to the intersection of Main Street Road and Lorang Road in Blackberry Township near Elburn, the report stated.

Deputies found a 2007 gray Acura RDX parked horizontally in front of a driveway on Main Street Road, the report stated.

The front right tire was missing from the rim with only small shreds of rubber left on it, the report stated.

The vehicle was not running and the driver, later identified as Talaga, was asleep in the driver’s seat, the report stated.

The front passenger side window was halfway down while the outdoor temperature at the time was 29 degrees, the report stated.

“I attempted several times to wake Taylor up,” the report stated. “I did so verbally and by knocking on the vehicle’s window and doors of the passenger and driver’s side. Taylor did not respond to my attempts to wake her up.”

After the deputy opened the driver’s side door and shook Talaga’s left arm, she began to wake up, the report stated.

“Taylor’s eyes appeared to be bloodshot, glassy, watery and her eyelids appeared to be puffy,” the report stated. “Taylor’s responses were short, sluggish, slurred and she was not speaking in complete sentences. Taylor … asked if I wanted to get in. She then asked me if I wanted a blanket and pillows.”

Talaga told deputies she was coming from seeing a friend in Aurora or Naperville, the report stated.

Deputies found an open bottle of Casamigos Tequila behind passenger seat on top of her jacket with a small amount left in it, the report stated.

Talaga was unable to tell deputies the correct time, day it was, or what road she was on, the report stated.

Talaga refused chemical testing at the jail, the report stated, but she eventually admitted to drinking four shots of tequila.

A deputy took the children to Talaga’s sister’s house in Sycamore, the report stated.

Talaga is scheduled to appear in court on April 27.

Efforts to reach Talaga for comment were unsuccessful.