Car Lot Owner Deals With Rash of Vandalism

Daily Herald Reporting

DUNDEE -- For Randy Klemm, the phone call in the middle of the night doesn't mean someone's died. It means someone has driven through his parking lot and destroyed his customers' cars.

It's happened nine times now in three years. That's 15 totaled cars and 10 damaged cars, including two of Klemm's own.

The East Dundee mechanic and owner of Dundee Automotive has had it with being left holding the bag for bad drivers who don't have insurance or full coverage, claim that the car they're driving isn't theirs, or smash up the cars in his lot and just take off.

Klemm estimates he's spent more than $35,000 on insurance deductibles and assorted damages, which he then has to pass along to his customers.

He's tired of all the excuses, and this time the normally affable businessman says enough is enough.

He wants the state to put a guard rail in front of his business.

"The state of Illinois keeps telling us no, but I don't care," Klemm said. "I'm tired of this."

Police say that last week an off-duty Des Plaines police officer from Lake in the Hills was driving drunk and jumped the curb, plowing through his lot, which is at a bend in Route 72 where it intersects Route 68 in downtown East Dundee.

According to a police report, James P. Ryan Jr. was heading west on Route 72 at 3:07 a.m. Aug. 6 when his SUV "failed to negotiate the curve" in front of Dundee Automotive and struck a parked car, causing a chain collision.

Klemm got the call from police hours before dawn.

"When I wake up at 3 in the morning and I see my phone ringing, I already know where I'm going," Klemm said.

Ryan, 34, a 7-year patrol officer, was arrested and charged with DUI and improper lane usage, East Dundee Police Chief Terry Mee said.

Klemm was told Ryan did not have insurance on his SUV, which means Klemm had to pony up the $5,000 insurance deductible - three cars were totaled and two others were damaged. One of the cars was a 1987 Porsche 944.

No one was injured.

Ryan is due to appear in court Sept. 10 in St. Charles, but his trouble doesn't end there.

Des Plaines Police Chief Jim Prandini confirmed that the department has launched its own internal investigation into the crash.

Once Ryan returns to work from vacation, he will be pulled off the street and put on paid administrative duty while the investigation continues, Prandini said.

Pending the probe's conclusion, additional disciplinary action could be forthcoming, Prandini said, adding that it is on Ryan to make things right with Dundee Automotive.

"I'm very disappointed he put himself in that situation," Prandini said.

Klemm had been working with former East Dundee Police Chief Ignacio "Joe" Pena before his retirement and state Rep. Ruth Munson on the guard rail issue.

But Munson said the Illinois Department of Transportation, which controls the state highway, refused to put a guard rail at that location.

While IDOT spokesman Mike Claffey said there is no record of Klemm's request, the state generally installs guardrails to protect people and cars from going off the side of the road or from plunging down a steep cliff.

"They're generally not used to protect property or structures that are off the side of the road," Claffey said.

Klemm insists he'll keep the heat on until he sees results.

His motivation comes in the form of fear - of the day a drunken driver comes barreling down Route 72 in broad daylight and winds up killing or seriously injuring someone in his shop.

Klemm says relocating Dundee Automotive to another spot is not an option. He has grown attached to the visible location and loves working within walking distance of his valued customers.

"I really don't want to move away from the people who have been very good to me," Klemm said.

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