Man, 83, Drank Pint Of Vodka, Crashed Into Joliet KFC, Seriously Injuring Woman, 67: Prosecutor
JOLIET, IL — Arthur Vidmar, an 83-year-old Joliet man from the 700 block of Reed Street, remains in the Will County Jail facing four counts of aggravated driving under the influence following last weekend’s crash on Larkin Avenue that injured a 67-year-old woman, who suffered a broken pelvis and three broken ribs.
At St. Joe’s hospital, following a blood draw, Joliet police determined he was three times the legal limit to be drunk in Illinois, prosecutors outlined.
According to the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office, Vidmar’s 2026 Chevy Colorado pickup truck was in the drive-thru lane of the Kentucky Fried Chicken around 4 p.m. last Saturday on the east side of Larkin Avenue.
As Vidmar left the drive-thru, he struck the stucco on the north side of the KFC building, then drove through the bushes and over the lawn, continuing over the sidewalk, over the street curb and into Larkin Avenue, court documents indicate.
Vidmar then drove west, crossing the median and heading toward the southbound lane of Larkin Avenue. His pick truck “could not successfully complete the rest of the 90-degree turn and struck the essentially stationary Honda Pilot, which was not yet primarily on Larkin,” prosecutors outlined.
The 67-year-old victim’s Honda was going east along Oneida Street waiting at the stop sign, facing east, waiting to turn right.
“The Honda had moved only slightly past the traffic light. The impact of the Colorado forced the Pilot into a fire hydrant there,” court documents note.
Arthur Vidmar, 83, of Joliet’s Reed Street, faces aggravated DUI charges. Mugshot via Will County Jail
At St. Joe’s hospital, only a few blocks away, Vidmar admitted he “drank a pint of vodka and had not eaten all day,” prosecutors revealed in Wednesday’s filing seeking to deny Vidmar pretrial release under the SAFE-T-Act.
At the hospital, Vidmar told Joliet police “that he did not know what happened and just woke up at the hospital.” The hospital reported that Vidmar’s serum level was 0.282, which converts to 0.238 using Illinois administrative codes, and that Vidmar did consent to the blood draw, prosecutors informed Will County Judge Derek Ewanic.
Vidmar’s criminal complaint reveals he “did not possess a driver’s license or permit or a restricted driving permit or a judicial driving permit or a monitoring device driving permit.”
According to prosecutors, Vidmar should be denied pretrial release because he was already arrested for a DUI in Joliet just one month ago — on Oct. 14 — and he had a return date to be back at the Will County Courthouse on that case on Tuesday of this week. “The People pray that this honorable court deny the defendant pretrial release,” wrote assistant state’s attorney Frank Byers.
Vidmar has retained long-time Joliet criminal defense lawyer Steven Haney to represent him.
Joliet Patch learned that Thursday’s pretrial detention hearing scheduled in front of Will County Judge Derek Ewanic has been postponed until Monday.
For now, Vidmar will remain in the Will County Jail and at 83 years old, he is one of the oldest inmates in the facility.
