Unlicensed Joliet Motorist Wants Deportation To Mexico After Injuring Motorcyclist: Prosecutors

JOLIET, IL ? Jorge Martinez-Lopez is not being allowed to return to his home in the 1100 block of Charlesworth Avenue in connection with his recent crash on the east side of Joliet that left a motorcyclist with life-threatening injuries, according to Will County court records.

The Will County State's Attorney's Office charged Martinez with three counts of aggravated driving under the influence related to the July 5 wreck. Martinez was hauled away in handcuffs by the Joliet police force, and he has remained in the Will County Jail ever since.

Martinez drove an Isuzu sport utility vehicle on Woodruff Road in Joliet, the crash resulted in permanent disability or disfigurement to Kenneth Pinnick and Martinez's alcohol concentration of above 0.08 "was a proximate cause of the injuries," the criminal complaint outlined.

One of the felony charges stated that Martinez "did not possess a driver's license or permit or a restricted driving permit or judicial driving permit or a monitoring device driving permit."

At the time of his overnight arrest, the 50-year-old Martinez asked the Joliet police if he will be deported back to Mexico, the court files show.

According to the prosecution's petition to deny pretrial release, at 1 a.m. on July 5, Joliet police learned of a wreck on Woodruff Road and Charlesworth, which is the same street where Martinez lives.

Martinez was going west on Charlesworth without yielding to Pinnick, who was going east along Woodruff on his motorcycle, the court files noted. Because Pinnick crashed into Martinez's SUV, he ended up in critical condition at Silver Cross Hospital. Pinnick was unconscious, on a ventilator and suffered severe road rash on his body, the prosecutors pointed out.

One motorist witnessed the crash, and they told Joliet police that Martinez's SUV turned slowly in front of Pinnick just before the collision.

Prosecutors noted that Martinez did admit to drinking alcohol earlier that day, which was the July 4th American Independence Day holiday. Martinez failed field sobriety tests and had a preliminary breath test of 0.168, court documents show.

"He does not have a valid license," the state's attorneys stressed. "He repeatedly asked if he was going to be deported back to Mexico while stating it would be doing him a favor as he does not like it here. He stated he came here 20 years ago and stayed in Michigan for a year but he went back to Mexico because he did not like it here.

"He came back here about two years ago, but his family is in Mexico. He has been arrested in 2009 for being an inadmissible alien in California. He was again arrested in 2017 and convicted of being an inadmissible alien in Arizona. He does not have strong ties to the community, only having been here for two years. His family is in Mexico. He stated he wants to go back to Mexico. He is a flight risk for all of the above stated reasons," the prosecutors informed Judge Tisdale.

Judge Tisdale ruled that Martinez will stay in the Will County Jail under a pretrial detention order. Martinez will be brought over to the courthouse in shackles by the Will County Sheriff's deputies on July 28 for his next pretrial hearing, in Courtroom 405.