When He Crashed Into Hickory Street Bar, He Was Yelling At His 3 Small Children, Not Looking At Road: Kids

JOLIET, IL — Despite some criticisms about the Illinois SAFE-T-Act, a number of Joliet criminal defendants are continuing to be detained in the Will County Jail, including 30-year-old William Wiedman, who faces a total of 14 charges in connection with his crash into the side of the Los Gavenos Bar at 1101 North Hickory Street.

Wiedman faces his third DUI charge, which is an aggravated driving under the influence charge, as well as aggravated battery plus several counts of endangering the life or health of his small children who were inside his car — not in any type of child safety seat — during his crash, court files show.

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At last week's hearing in Courtroom 202 of Will County Judge Chrystel Gavlin, she imposed the SAFE-T-Act's dangerousness standard, allowing the prosecution to keep Wiedman in the Will County Jail indefinitely as his 14 criminal charges are pending at the courthouse.

The details of the incident leading to Wiedman's arrest were outlined in the petition to deny his pretrial release:

On April 5, at approx. 4:45 p.m., Joliet police officers were dispatched to Hutchins and Hickory for a crash involving three children, Wiedman's 7-year-old son, 6-year-old daughter and 5-year-old daughter. Officer Acosta saw Wiedman holding a shirt on the head of his 5-year-old daughter as she had a cut on her forehead.

After the Joliet Fire Department took the children and loaded them into the ambulance, Wiedman punched a squad car, prosecutors pointed out. The Joliet police arrested Wiedman and the officers saw front end damage to the vehicle as well as the airbags deployed. No car seats were observed in the vehicle for the children, court documents indicate.

"While in handcuffs, Wiedman began to flail around and fell to the ground. Wiedman was seated on the ground and rolled onto his back and kicked Officer Traver in the arms and leg." prosecutors noted. "While escorting Wiedman to the squad car he began to drop his weight and refused to walk on his feet. At the front of the patrol car of Officer Bell, Wiedman began to kick the front of the patrol car and then dropped his weight again. Wiedman was then placed in the squad and he kicked Officer Long in the chest and several more times about the body and spit on him."

Eventually, the Joliet police had to put a spit hood on Wiedman. Meanwhile, back near the crash site, one woman told Joliet Officer Meza that she saw Wiedman verbally assaulting his children. Wiedman began to pull the children toward the car and he used a closed fist to rapidly strike in the direction of the children. The woman was unsure if he made contact with any of the children but she counted at least five strikes towards the head and body of one of the children.

She also saw Wiedman wrap his hands around one of the children's neck and begin to choke them; she tried to approach the vehicle, but he sped off in a gray Kia, prosecutors pointed out.

Officer Traver spoke to the owner of the bar at 1101 N. Hickory who showed him a video of the car crash. It showed a gray Kia take a wide left turn onto Hutchins and strike the northbound curb and then strike the building.

"This is the same vehicle that Wiedman was seen driving at the park ... Wiedman exits from the driver's seat and approaches the back driver seat and young children are observed exiting. Wiedman then takes off his shirt and applies it to the minor child's forehead," prosecutors noted. "While in booking, Wiedman made an utterance stating, 'I f***** up because I'm drunk.'"

The children were taken to St. Joes for their injuries. The 6-year-old girl needed eight stitches for a laceration across her forehead and she had bruises from the seat belt on her side.

The 5-year-old girl had a red cheek and a fracture of her cheek bone. The 7-year-0ld boy had minor lacerations and complained of back pain.

"The children stated he did not physically strike them but that he was yelling at them and he was not looking at the road and crashed," prosecutors revealed.

The children were in custody of their grandmother, who is Wiedman's mother. Meanwhile, Wiedman's driver's license was already suspended since June 13, 2023. Still, Wiedman has three prior driving while license revoked incidents since then, according to the State's Attorney's Office.

He has two prior DUIs, one from 2023 in Cook County and another from 2024 here in Will County.