A 49-year-old Lake Forest woman is facing driving under the influence charges after police say she crashed her Ford Bronco into the south side of a commercial building on Old Skokie Valley Road in Highland Park, an impact significant enough that fire crews were initially told the driver might be trapped inside. Jennifer H. Milner ended up walking out of the vehicle on her own, and no one, either in the SUV or inside the building, was hurt.
The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. on August 11, when the Highland Park Fire Department and Highland Park Police Department responded to the 1200 block of Old Skokie Valley Road, according to the Lake and McHenry County Scanner. Fire crews arriving on scene found a single-vehicle crash involving a building, and initial reports suggested the driver was trapped, but Milner exited the Bronco on her own before crews needed to extricate her. Amanda Bennett said, per a city statement, that Milner was the sole occupant of the vehicle.
The building at 1200 Old Skokie Valley Road is no ordinary storefront. It is a 52,000-square-foot multi-tenant commercial property that sold for $8.75 million in a 2019 transaction, according to REJournals, and its tenant roster includes Tesla, which occupies roughly 32,000 square feet of the space, along with Bystol Performance Center and True Spec Golf. The Tesla location itself carries some local history: it opened in December 2013 as Tesla Motors' first combined sales, service, and supercharging facility anywhere in the world, according to Patch's coverage at the time.
Structural Damage Prompts Access Restrictions
City community development staff conducted a preliminary inspection of the building following the crash, and authorities restricted access to the damaged area pending further inspection by a structural engineer, per the police report cited by the outlet. The vehicle crash significantly damaged part of the commercial building, though the full scope of that structural assessment has not been detailed. A tow truck later removed the Ford Bronco from the scene.
Police identified Milner as the driver of the Ford in their report, and officers determined she was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. She was arrested and charged with two counts of driving under the influence, along with illegal transportation of alcohol by a driver, after the vehicle was found to contain alcohol being illegally transported.
Charges, Bail Rules, and What Comes Next in Court
Milner was released with a notice to appear in court rather than held on bail, and she is scheduled to appear in Waukegan on October 2, 2026. That release process reflects standard procedure under Illinois' Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminated cash bail statewide starting in September 2023 and requires law enforcement to release non-violent misdemeanor defendants like DUI suspects on a notice to appear unless prosecutors petition and prove a specific public safety threat, according to Illinois Legal Aid Online.
A standard first or second DUI offense in Illinois is classified as a Class A misdemeanor under state statute, carrying maximum penalties of up to 364 days in jail and fines as high as $2,500, per the Illinois General Assembly's code. Transporting unsealed alcohol inside a vehicle's passenger compartment is a separate Class A misdemeanor with its own fines and license points attached. Because all DUI cases from Lake County municipalities are centralized for prosecution at the 19th Judicial Circuit Court in Waukegan, Milner's case will be handled there rather than in Highland Park, according to background from The Davis Law Group.
Separate from whatever happens in criminal court, Illinois DUI arrests trigger an automatic administrative license suspension through the Secretary of State's Office, which takes effect 46 days after the arrest notice regardless of how the criminal case resolves, per legal guidance published by The Law Offices of David L. Freidberg. If convicted, Milner could also be referred to Lake County's Specialized DUI Unit, a probation program that monitors high-risk offenders through mandatory testing, substance treatment, and victim impact panel attendance.
A Familiar Risk on Lake County Roads
The crash lands amid sobering countywide numbers. Lake County recorded 35 fatal motor vehicle crashes in a recent year, tying it with Madison County for the fourth-deadliest county in Illinois for traffic fatalities, according to data compiled by Salvi Law. Statewide, alcohol is estimated to factor into roughly 47% of motor vehicle fatalities, even though self-reported impaired driving incidents vastly outnumber actual DUI arrests, per research from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
It remains unclear exactly how much structural repair the Old Skokie Valley Road building will need or whether any of its tenants, including Tesla, faced disruptions to their operations following the crash. Milner's blood alcohol concentration at the time of her arrest has also not been disclosed.
