The officers who responded to the scene could have asked Ardelean to take a DUI breath test to determine the alcohol level in his blood. But they didn't. They said they didn't smell alcohol or notice any other signs that Ardelean might be drunk.

By the time Ardelean was ordered by a supervisor to take the test — almost eight hours later — his blood-alcohol level was within the legal threshold. If he had been intoxicated, he no longer was.

That eight-hour gap torpedoed the case: In April a Cook County circuit court judge ruled that Ardelean had been arrested and detained without probable cause. Last Friday, prosecutors dropped charges of aggravated DUI and reckless homicide against Ardelean.

This case exposes a huge loophole in Illinois' DUI law — a loophole legislators need to close. Right now, motorists involved in serious accidents are compelled to take a breath test — if the cops ask them to do so. The state needs a law that makes such tests automatic — without exception — in all serious injury crashes. No officer discretion. No wiggle room. Even if you don't look inebriated or slur your words, even if you've sneaked those empties out of the car while officers tend to the injured, you would be tested.

And off-duty cops wouldn't be exempt.

We're often skeptical of laws that leave no room for judgment calls by public officials, police officers included. But an automatic testing law is fair to all drivers in serious crashes. Every major accident would be a discretion-free zone: The cops would just order drivers to take a breath or blood test, no questions asked and no objections honored. (Lagunas, the other driver in the Ardelean case, also had been drinking; his autopsy revealed a blood-alcohol level just below the legal limit.)