About five minutes before midnight on Saturday, Sgt. Ron Godby of University Police sat in the parking lot in front of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. His radar gun clocked the speeds of passing motorists.
After a few minutes he got one.
A 1994 Mazda Miata hurried south on Sheridan Road at 54 miles per hour, 24 miles per hour over the speed limit. About 10 minutes later, Godby arrested the driver, Michael A. Keable, 36, of Chicago, on charges of speeding and driving under the influence of alcohol.
Keable’s arrest began a busy evening for Godby and his fellow officers on UP’s midnight shift.
At 2:50 a.m., UP received word from Evanston Police Department of a car burglary in the 1800 block of Asbury Avenue. The burglar had last been seen in a nearby alley carrying a brown box, Godby’s radio said. He turned his sirens and sped west toward the scene.
But neither EPD nor UP could find the offender, leaving Godby disappointed.
“Wish we could’ve caught that guy,” he said. “It’s always a bit of a letdown when you don’t catch them.”
Godby’s night stayed calm for a little while, but within an hour he spotted a 1998 Saturn coupe awkwardly ambling north on Sheridan Road. Godby followed the car onto Central Avenue sensing another DUI arrest in the works.
The driver pulled over in front of Evanston Hospital and asked Godby for directions. Instead, Godby offered a sobriety test.
The driver failed to walk a straight line and refused any more tests, returning to her car.
Godby arrested Edith Raices, 34, of Hoffman Estates, Ill., and charged her with driving under the influence of alcohol.
Once at the UP station, Raices didn’t become any more cooperative. She initially refused to be fingerprinted.
“This is a police station?” she asked. “I’ve never been to a disgusting place like this before in my life. You know, they don’t show this in the movies.”
Raices told one officer he looked like “the spitting image of a newborn pit bull.”
She asked Godby questions about his marriage. She complimented him on his shiny skin. She asked him to give her a ride home.
“If you don’t say anything, and I don’t say anything, no one will know,” Raices said.
At the time of her arrest, Raices gave police a false name. When she picked up her car later on Sunday, she used her real ID, Godby said.
She was arrested on the spot and charged with unlawful use of an identification card. After the second arrest, police searched Raices, found marijuana on her and charged her with possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana, Godby said.
Both Raices and Keable are scheduled to appear March 6 at Circuit Court in Skokie.
Godby has “a real weird knack” for catching drunk drivers, he said. Of course, he’s not right all the time.
During the midnight shift Feb. 1, he spotted a BMW convertible swerving north on Sheridan Road. Godby stopped the car and talked to the couple inside for a few minutes.
He returned to his car with a smile, noting that the man was embarrassed and the woman was half-naked. He let them go.
The Daily’s Alex Doniach contributed to this report.
