Former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka’s son, Mark Ditka, who is awaiting trial on his fourth DUI charge, tested positive for opiates during a routine pretrial screening.
Ditka told the judge the drug had been properly prescribed. But after the judge instructed him to leave the courthouse to go to Walgreens and get a copy of the prescription – an errand expected to take about 20 minutes – he returned more than two hours later without the prescription. Ditka claimed he went to three Walgreens but was unsuccessful in retrieving a copy of the prescription because “their stuff was down.”
Ditka was arrested in October near his home and charged with DUI and possession of a controlled substance after authorities said a bottle of Hydrocodone (generic Vicodin) was found in his car. He was stopped for erratic driving and improper lane usage by police about 3:45 a.m.
Police say his license had been suspended at the time from a previous DUI arrest in September 2011. That charge in still pending, though in May, Ditka won a round in court when the breathalyzer test results from that arrest were thrown out in court, on the basis that it might have been tainted by tobacco that Ditka had chewed.
In the more recent DUI charge, police say Ditka refused to give a breath alcohol sample and a blood test, and when officers searched his vehicle, they found bottle of unmarked pills that turned out to be Hydrocodone, a controlled substance that requires a prescription.
Court records show that Ditka was also arrested for DUI in 2005 but the charge was reduced to reckless driving. He was found not guilty in an earlier DUI arrest that occurred in 1997, according to court records.
Charged with a DUI? Contact the Law Offices of Michelle A. Fioravanti at 484-876-1543 or www.fioravantilaw.com for an experienced DUI lawyer.