Frankfort Woman Fled Fender-Bender Because Other Driver's Accent 'Scared' Her: Cops

A Frankfort woman claimed she fled a fender-bender because the other driver’s accent “scared” her, police said, and she managed to slip a possible DUI by getting far enough away for a sufficient amount of time.

Kelly Irwin, 37, was charged with failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failing to give information, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and the illegal transportation of alcohol.

Police officers sent to a traffic crash on Wolf Road near Brook Hill Drive reportedly met with a woman whose sport utility vehicle had been rear-ended.

The woman told police she and the other driver both pulled over after the crash. The other driver, who turned out to be Irwin, then “told her that she was not at fault because (the other driver) did not move fast enough for the green light.”

The other driver “explained that she was stopped for a red light, and Irwin became irritated with her,” police said. “As they spoke, (the other driver) told me that she smelled alcohol coming from Irwin’s breath, and believed her to be intoxicated. At that time (the other driver) told Irwin that the police could settle the issue of whose fault the accident was.”

The other driver reportedly told police “Irwin then became nervous, and told her that she, ‘had too much to do to wait around for the police.’”

The other driver “said that she told Irwin that she needed to wait, and Irwin handed her a business card that identified her as Kelly Irwin. Irwin then repeated that she ‘had too much to do to wait around’ and left in her vehicle,” police said.

A Frankfort police officer reportedly located and pulled over Irwin. That officer told Orland Park police “Irwin was slurring her words, and was chewing gum to mask the odor of alcoholic beverage on her breath,” according to a report. Irwin’s sport utility vehicle also had “fresh front-end damage,” police said.

“I then spoke to Irwin, who was furiously chewing on a piece of gum,” an Orland Park police officer said, according to a report.

Irwin told the officer she was “involved in a crash, but it wasn’t her fault,” that “the vehicle in front of her did not move fast enough, and she struck it in the rear.”

Irwin told the officer that the other driver got out of her SUV “and began to scream and yell at her for hitting her car,” police said.

“Irwin said that she became scared because she had a hard time understanding (the other woman) because she had an accent,” the officer said, nothing that, “During my conversation with (the woman), I did not have any problem whatsoever understanding her.”

Police said the other driver was a 54-year-old Asian woman.

“Irwin went on to say that because she was scared, she gave (the woman) her business card and left the scene. I asked Irwin why she did not contact the police if she was scared, and she did not have an answer.”

Irwin told the officer she had been coming from a Thai restaurant on Wolf Road where “she had half of a mimosa, but did not finish it because she didn’t like the taste,” police said.

Irwin proceeded to fail three field sobriety tests, police said, but the officer ”could not charge Irwin with DUI due to the stop not being within my jurisdiction, and the time frame between the crash and the traffic stop.”

The officer reportedly found a cup in the center console “that appeared to have an alcoholic beverage in it,” police said, as well as a small, opened, bottle of wine in her purse.

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