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Joliet’s former city manager would not reveal to officers where he was coming from after he had crashed into another vehicle and he refused to participate in field sobriety tests, which led to his Oct. 3 arrest on a charge of driving under the influence, Joliet police videos and reports show.
James Capparelli, 62, of Joliet was speaking with someone on his cellphone several times during the police investigation of a crash on North Hickory Street, near the corner of Moran Street, according to police body camera videos obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act request
About 10:30 p.m. Oct. 3, an officer responded to the crash and asked Capparelli questions focused on the collision itself. After that officer walked away, Capparelli told someone on the phone, “Come outside, I’m [expletive] being pinched.”
Later on, Capparelli told someone on his phone, “No, they’re pinching me for a DUI. Yes, they are. Come out. Bye.”
He would not reveal to officers with who he was speaking with.
Following Capparelli’s arrest, he was charged with misdemeanor DUI and a citation for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident. Capparelli did not return a call on Tuesday regarding the incident.
A police crash report said Capparelli drove a Grand Cherokee Jeep that collided with a Chevrolet Malibu driven by a 24-year-old woman. The woman told officers that Capparelli said to her, “What’s wrong with you, are you high?” after the crash, according to the report. In a call to 911, the woman told a dispatcher that Capparelli was drunk.
A video of the crash taken from a residence showed Capparelli walking out of his vehicle and approaching the front of the Chevrolet Malibu as its lights were blinking.
Capparelli declined to tell a police dispatcher where he had been before the crash, the video shows, and would not reveal to a police dispatch where he had been coming from before the crash. He told the dispatcher, “That’s not my — that’s my opinion, not yours, I don’t need to provide you with that information.”
One of the officers was suspicious that Capparelli was drunk and told him he appeared lethargic, had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes. Capparelli denied several times that he drank alcohol that night, the video shows.