Burr Ridge deputy chief suspended after DUI arrest in Virginia, refusal to take DUI test

Burr Ridge Deputy Police Chief Ryan Husarik is on unpaid leave and will remain so until July 26 following an arrest for driving while intoxicated in Dumfries, Virginia earlier this year.

Husarik was in Virginia for an FBI training course that the bureau provided for free. Upon his arrest, he left the course, according to a Burr Ridge police department press release.

The deputy chief, a 19-year veteran of the department, was suspended without pay for 40 days on June 3 following an arrest April 13 just after 6:30 p.m. after he blew a .207 on a preliminary breathalyzer, the results of which allowed a Virginia state trooper to arrest him, but which cannot be used in court. The legal limit is .08 blood alcohol content.

According to the Burr Ridge Police Department, Husarik will also face an internal investigation and he is under a 48-month “last-chance agreement.”

The department’s news release points out their internal investigation and its outcome have nothing to do with the DUI charges in Virginia, though the department will keep an eye on the court proceedings there.

“We will continue to monitor the case in Virginia as it progresses, and any sanctions that may result will be addressed when they become known,” the press release says.

According to the Virginia trooper’s arrest report, the Burr Ridge Deputy Chief was reported by a civilian for dangerous driving and the trooper also noted Husarik’s dark blue Ford Explorer, which had Indiana tags reading 233CYL. The trooper noted the car was obviously a police car, and he reportedly watched it swerve into the oncoming lane of traffic before the trooper could stop the deputy chief.

Husarik was driving a Burr Ridge police vehicle with a rifle, two empty small travel-sized bottles of vodka on his person and four regular-sized bottles elsewhere in the vehicle — two Evan Williams bourbon and one bottle New Amsterdam vodka and a bottle of wine—all half empty as well as an uncounted number of more single-shot travel sized bottles of liquor, the report said. The rifle was locked in the car, next to the liquor.

According to the report, Husarik told the trooper he had been returning from a casino, where he’d been drinking when he got lost.

Husarik allegedly told the state trooper he was on his way back to FBI headquarters in Quantico, 10 miles away from Dumfries, and he’d been at Quantico for two weeks already.

The trooper reported the vehicle smelled of alcohol and that Husarik was hard to understand and had trouble speaking.

According to the trooper’s report, Husarik failed also a field sobriety test and he refused to take an official breathalyzer exam that could be used in court. In Virginia — and in Illinois — refusal to take a breathalyzer results in a one-year suspended license, though it’s not clear if Burr Ridge Police Chief John Madden will allow Husarik to drive a patrol vehicle after his suspension or the outcome of the DUI cases. Neither Madden nor village officials commented on that and they also declined to say whether Husarik will be required to get treatment for alcohol abuse. The police department also would not clarify why Husarik was driving in a Burr Ridge police car with Indiana plates.

He was charged with a DUI and for refusal to take a DUI test. Under both Illinois and Virginia law, it’s illegal to carry a concealed firearm while intoxicated and for civilians, a conviction would result in the revocation of a concealed gun permit, though Husarik wasn’t charged for that.

 Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.