Police: Man shot up crack while driving in Riverside neighborhood as kids played

A man is facing charges after police pulled him over Monday afternoon and learned he had been injecting crack cocaine while driving through a residential area in west suburban Riverside.

Brian Conley, 39, of Berwyn, was charged with drugged driving, according to Riverside police. He also faces several traffic citations.

Officers responded about 12:25 p.m. to check the well-being of a man who was standing outside of a car in the first block of East Burlington, according to Riverside police. They didn’t initially find anyone, but later stopped Conley near the intersection of Herrick and Herbert roads, where children were playing nearby.

When they walked up to his car, the officers noticed that Conley was “highly impaired,” police said. He also had drug paraphernalia strewn about his vehicle.

Conley then failed a series of sobriety and drug tests before being taken into custody, police said. During a subsequent search of his car, officers found drug paraphernalia for smoking and cooking crack.

While in custody, another test confirmed that Conley was high, police said. He also submitted a urine test that was sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab for analysis.

Conley admitted to being an active heroin user and abusing prescription Prozac, police said. His previous criminal history includes arrests for drugs, domestic violence and traffic offenses.

Information about his bond and next scheduled court date wasn’t immediately known.