Hallucinating Woman Intentionally Causes Crash: Riverside Cops

RIVERSIDE, IL — A woman under the influence of drugs rammed the car in front of her Monday after hallucinating that the driver was trying to traffic young girls for prostitution, police said in a news release Wednesday. She ended up causing a multi-car crash. None of the injuries were reported as life-threatening. It followed a multi-car crash a day earlier in Riverside, which resulted in a drunken driving suspect's arrest.

Riverside police said they determined Rashawna E. Beachem, 34, of Chicago, was under the influence of PCP and that her belief about the other driver was false. About 5:30 a.m. Monday, Beachem intentionally rammed the car in front of her all the way down the southbound lanes of Harlem Avenue from the 1600 block of South Harlem in North Riverside to where she crashed at Harlem and Ogden Avenue, the release said. When Beachem got to Harlem and Ogden, she accelerated south through the intersection, crashing into three cars, causing the multi-vehicle crash, police said.

She tried to run away and had to be physically restrained by officers because she was combative, the release said. She was taken to McNeal Hospital in Berwyn for treatment.

The intersection of Harlem and Ogden was shut down for an hour and a half during the initial investigation, police said. The crash resulted in extensive damage to traffic light equipment in the area.

Beachem was arrested on charges of DUI, reckless driving, following too closely, failure to avoid an accident, no insurance and resisting a police officer.

"My officers are continuing to investigate this case as we track down video. It is an absolute miracle that nobody was seriously injured or killed in this impaired driving crash," Police Chief Tom Weitzel said in a statement. "Make no mistake, this was not an accident. This was a purposeful act as Ms. Beachem totally disregarded not only her safety but everyone else's."

In the early morning hours the day before, an Uber driver between jobs was driving drunk when he caused a multi-car crash at Harlem Avenue and Lawton Road in Riverside. No one was reported seriously injured, but Hector Hernandez, 42, of North Riverside, was charged with DUI, among other charges. The Uber driver did not have a passenger at the time.