Joliet Township supervisor facing DUI charge begged cops to let him go, video shows: ‘I’m asking for, like, the biggest favor’

Joliet — Joliet Township Supervisor Angel Contreras, facing a felony driving under the influence charge, repeatedly asked officers to let him go before his arrest, asking them for “like the biggest favor,” acknowledged he had been drinking and refused to submit to sobriety tests, records show.

Contreras, 36, who also is vice chairman of the Joliet Housing Authority board, has been charged with aggravated DUI and aggravated driving while license revoked stemming from the June 19 incident on Western Avenue in Joliet.

Contreras has not responded to repeated calls about the arrest.

After an officer pulled over Contreras in a traffic stop, Contreras said his driver’s license had been revoked and that he “got a DUI in Indiana,” according to police body camera video the Herald-News obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Contreras appeared drowsy in the video, distracted and unable to fully finish answering questions the officers asked, the video shows.

In 2016, Contreras pleaded guilty in Indiana to operating a vehicle while intoxicated and endangering a person, court records show.

After Contreras left the Honda Ridgeline he was driving at the officer’s request, he said he was “actually with Bob earlier,” and clarified that he meant Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, who recommended his appointment to the housing authority board in 2016.

The officer asked Contreras where he was driving from.

“I was literally coming from the hotel at the, uh, on Clarion, with, uh, um, the old uh, on Larkin, the old uh, the old uh, um, uh Hollywood, not Hollywood but the old uh, um, god, um, I’m coming from the ABA, AABA, the African American Business Association dinner, I think, at the Clarion,” Contreras told the officer.

The officer asked Contreras how much he had to drink before telling him he appeared “super lethargic” and that his eyes were “super bloodshot and glassy.”

Contreras did not answer the question. Instead he repeatedly asked if he was allowed to go, and then asked, “Am I (expletive)?”

“Is there any situation, like, I know every officer around town. … Can I just go home? Is that a thing?” Contreras asked.

The officer asked Contreras if he knew him and he said no. Later, the officer asked Contreras again how much he had to drink.

“Four drinks at the end of the night, and I shouldn’t have had,” Contreras said, later asking again if he could go home.

“I’m asking for, like, the biggest favor,” Contreras said.

When the officer asked Contreras if he could perform sobriety tests to make sure he was safe to continue driving, Contreras instead asked the officer if he could help him “continue on.”

“It’s happened before with other people. ... I’m asking you, sir, like, can you give me the full-on mercy?” Contreras said.

Contreras did not respond to further requests from the officer to submit to a sobriety test, the video shows. The officer told him he was under arrest for DUI and driving with a revoked license.

Inside the squad vehicle, a handcuffed Contreras asked the officers if they could give him a traffic ticket instead of placing him under arrest, the video shows.

At the police station, Contreras refused to submit to a breath test. He told two officers at the station he had been staying up for “almost like 21 days straight, guys, with the company I work.”

One of the officers told him he needed to get sleep and he should’ve proved he was not intoxicated by submitting to the breath test.

“Absolutely, boss, I get it, but I haven’t slept in three weeks,” Contreras said.

The officer later said if he had “just been up and that’s it, then you should have done the test, man.”

“It doesn’t matter, boss,” Contreras said.