Driver With 'Emergency Beer' Nabbed: Hinsdale Cops

HINSDALE, IL — A man with shifting explanations about why he had open beer cans in his car early the morning of New Year's Eve was arrested on charges of drunken driving and battery, Hinsdale police said.

Bryan K. Bylaitis-Pruim, 31, of Wauconda, was taken into custody shortly after midnight Dec. 31. He was stopped after being seen speeding 78 mph in a 55 mph zone on Route 83 in Hinsdale, police said.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the full police report.

When an officer pulled over Bylaitis-Pruim's car, the officer said he noticed the man's eyes were watery, often a sign of intoxication. Bylaitis-Pruim said he had been crying because of a rough couple of weeks, the report said. When asked, Bylaitis-Pruim said he had not been drinking that night.

The officer then pointed to open Budweiser cans in the rear passenger door behind his seat, but Bylaitis-Pruim said he "declined that," the report said. The officer said he laughed because he was unsure what Bylaitis-Pruim was declining. The officer said it was physically possible for the man to reach back and grab the beers.

Then Bylaitis-Pruim said he drank the beers in the car with his cousin the day before, police said.

A cigarette inside one of the cans appeared to be the same type as the one Bylaitis-Pruim was smoking, police said. When Bylaitis-Pruim was outside the car for sobriety tests, the officer told him he could smell alcohol coming from him, police said. But the man said if the officer smelled alcohol, it was coming from the beer cans in the back seat, according to the report.

After Bylaitis-Pruim was handcuffed, his demeanor changed and he began using foul language, the report said. When an officer found an unopened Budweiser beer can in the glove compartment, Bylaitis-Pruim said it was an "emergency beer," police said. Bylaitis-Pruim then declined to tell officers where his car keys were, police said.

As he was driven to the Hinsdale police station, he told an officer that they were going to war and continued to utter obscenities, according to the report.

At the police station, an officer handed Bylaitis-Pruim a document, which the man threw back at the officer, hitting the officer in the shoulder, police said. Battery was then added to his charges.

Bylaitis-Pruim was later released on bond.

Besides DUI and battery, he was also charged with speeding and possession of open alcohol by a driver.