Woman accused of drinking six vodkas before driving into bicyclist

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Updated: November 5, 2011 2:35PM

A Joliet woman was charged with aggravated DUI after she hit a barrier and struck a bicyclist with her car on the Near West Side after allegedly downing six vodka drinks in two hours, officials said.

The North Lawndale bicyclist was in critical condition and on a ventilator after Sheila Kane’s 2008 Mercury Sable hit the barrier and flipped over before crashing into him Thursday in the 2000 block of West Madison, prosecutors said Sunday in a bond hearing.

With a blood alcohol content of .201 — more than twice the legal limit of .08 — Kane allegedly admitted to police that she had three vodka drinks before driving but refused to provide blood and urine samples, according to a police report.

Police noted Kane’s alleged bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and smelled alcohol on her breath once she was at the hospital, and witnesses said they saw Kane consume six drinks, prosecutors said.

Kane, 30, is being treated at Stroger Hospital for a fractured vertebra but her lawyers want her transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for additional treatment.