Man faces weapons, drug charges after crash in Riverside

A North Riverside man was charged Sunday with armed violence, felony possession of a controlled substance and felony manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance following an accident near Brookfield Zoo, Riverside police said.

Jonathan Bednarik, 22, also was charged with driving on suspended license and reckless conduct. He was also issued traffic citations related to the crash, police said.

Police at 2:37 a.m. received 911 calls reporting a single-vehicle accident with injuries and airbag deployment. The 911 caller stated that the vehicle was off the roadway in the grassy area at the fence line along Brookfield Zoo, 3300 South First Ave., between Ridgewood Road and 31st Street.

When officers arrived, they found a driver and a passenger with minor injuries. Both were treated by paramedics and refused transportation to an area hospital, according to police.

Bednarik told police he was driving northbound on First Avenue and hit an icy patch, slid into the southbound lanes and hit the curb, which threw them into the grassy area in the fence line of the Brookfield Zoo. There was minor damage to the Brookfield Zoo fence.

Riverside police and firefighters noticed a backpack in the area of the crash hanging from the fence in the area adjacent to where the vehicle landed. When they examined the backpack, officers found a loaded handgun, ammunition, narcotics and materials for the manufacture and delivery of narcotics, police said.

Found inside the backpack was a Taurus 9-millimeter handgun with a 17-round magazine, fully loaded. Also in the bag was a clear, powdery, white substance and pills, with a scale used for measuring narcotics.

While preparing the vehicle for towing, police found an additional loaded magazine for a 22-caliber pistol. The firearm police initially recovered was a 9-millimeter; they did not find the 22-caliber. It was learned through further investigation that the 22-caliber was still at the residence of the individual arrested.

Bednarik did have a valid FOID card, but did not have a concealed carry license for Illinois.

Bednarik admitted during an interview that the handgun, ammunition and drugs were his. He had attempted to discard the backpack before police arrived, but was unsuccessful throwing it over the Brookfield Zoo fence line.