Joseph Frugoli, Off-Duty Cop's Bond Set at $500,000, Accused of DUI in Double-Fatal Crash in Chicago

Joseph Frugoli, Chicago Police Detective (Chicago Sun Times Photo)

The last thing anyone expects to happen is a cop being accused of driving under the influence. Joseph Frugoli, 41, a Chicago police detective, was charged on Friday with two counts of aggravated driving under the influence, two counts of reckless homicide and one count of leaving the scene of an accident. His bond was set at $500,000 as he stands accused of killing two men, Fausto Manzera, 21 and Andrew Cazares, 23, when he allegedly plowed into a disabled car in a drunken-driving crash early Friday on the Dan Ryan Expressway. Shameful. He was ordered held on $500,000 bond at a Sunday hearing at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse at 3100 S. California Ave. They shouldn't have set bond for him. He should have been allowed to sit in jail until his case goes to trial. Had that been you or I, that's the fate we would have been dealt.

This bond is a travesty and it is a shame the law enforcement had to take one of their own into custody for such an reprehensible crime. According to the Chicago Sun Times, Frugoli was taken into custody after he drove his black Lexus into a red Dodge Intrepid that broke down in the southbound lanes of the Dan Ryan Expressway (I-90/94) near the 18th Street ramp. Sources have said that the 18-year-department veteran was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where tests indicated his blood-alcohol level was about triple the legal limit of .08, sources. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. To add insult to injury, the police said that he was walking away from the crash scene when he was apprehended. Shameful and it shows the depth of his character.

What's ironic is that this same police officer, just last week, was ordered to pay Joseph Cairo $7,100 after a jury trial involving a 2005 accident. He obviously did not learn his lesson from that incident. He has been involved in other serious accidents. Why wasn't this man's license suspended or why wasn't he dismissed from the police force back then. The Chicago Police Department said that Frugoli has been relieved of his police powers. In addition to the traffic investigation being conducted by the State Police, the Chicago Police Department launched a probe by its Internal Affairs Division. The bottom line is that this man's license should have been yanked a long time ago. He did not belong behind the wheel of a car on any street.