Woman charged with DUI near Riverside school playground

A Berwyn woman is facing DUI charges after she was pulled over near a school in west suburban Riverside with a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit, according to police.

A witness called police Thursday morning to report seeing a woman stumble from her car to a liquor store to buy “small bottles of alcohol similar to ones that are served on airplanes,” according to a statement from Riverside police.

After watching the woman drink the bottles while sitting in the car and start to drive away, the witness followed and called 911.

Officers attempted to stop the car at 11:10 a.m. in the 100 block of Akenside Road in Riverside, where it was weaving back and forth across the centerline near the playground behind Hauser Central School, police said. There were 30-40 children playing on the playground facing Akenside at the time.

When officers tried to pull the car over, the woman pulled into a driveway “at an awkward angle and proceeded to tell the officer that she was pulling into her own residence, which was not the case,” according to police.

The driver, 50-year-old Tricia M. Drozd of Berwyn, failed a roadside sobriety test and was taken into custody, police said. Investigators found open bottles of Southern Comfort inside the car, and Drozd’s blood alcohol content was later revealed to be 0.227, nearly three times the legal limit of 0.08.

Drozd was charged with two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol; and cited for improper lane usage, disobeying a stop sign and several other traffic violations, police said. She was later released after posting bond.