Police: Drunken driver punched, spat on Riverside officer

Latoya King | Riverside police

(RIVERSIDE) A Chicago woman was arrested Saturday for battering and spitting on a Riverside police officer after she was caught driving drunkenly in the west suburb.

Latyoa L. King, 32, was charged with aggravated DUI and aggravated battery to a police officer, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor counts obstruction of identification, resisting arrest, DUI, driving without a valid licenses and several other traffic citations, according to a statement from Riverside police.

Just before 2:30 a.m., an officer saw a vehicle going headed south in the 3200 block of Harlem 53 mph in a 35 mph zone, police said. The vehicle turned right into the 300 block of Addison Road where the officer stopped it.

The officer smelled alcohol on King’s breath and saw a clear plastic cup with what was later identified as Remi Martin liquor inside, police said. King then performed and failed all six field sobriety tests and also said she did not know how to spell her last name after she said she didn’t have a license.

She told police that she was on her way home from a night of “clubbing” before she was arrested for drunk driving, police said.

Once she was at the station, King blew a .16 on a breathalyzer, police said. She broke away from officers while she was being fingerprinted and began to kick and punch a scanning machine. When officers tried to intervene, she kicked and punched them and spat directly into one officer’s face.

“She told the officers, ‘I’m going to come back and kill your kids and grandkids,’ in addition to telling them that, ‘All cops must die,’” Riverside police Chief Weitzel said in the statement.

The officer was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood and released later that morning, police said.

Eventually, police officers from Lyons came to assist the Riverside officers, police said. A fingerprint search showed that King never had a driver’s license and had a criminal history including arrests for assault, obstruction, and traffic offenses.

“It is a shame that officers must be subjected to this demeaning rhetoric for just simply doing their job,” Weitzel said. “However, in this case, the defendant took it one step further by physically battering an officer and spitting saliva directly into his face.”

King, of the 5000 block of Washington Boulevard, was ordered held on a $50,000 bond, and is next scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, according to the Cook County sheriff’s office.