Another Ditka son accused of driving drunk

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Booking mug of Mark Ditka, arrested Sept. 30, 2011, photo courtesy Deerfield Police Dept.

Updated: November 15, 2011 9:54AM

DEERFIELD — Another son of former Chicago Bears’ Coach Mike Ditka has been arrested on a driving under the influence charge.

Mark E. Ditka, 48, of Deerfield, was arrested at 3:27 a.m. Sept. 24 and was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, failure to display registration and speeding.

Deerfield police said Ditka, who was driving a black Mercedes-Benz, turned onto northbound Waukegan Road from Lake-Cook Road when an officer noticed the car did not have a front license plate. When police attempted to pull him over, Ditka allegedly continued driving and was later clocked driving 50 miles per hour in a 40 mph zone.

During questioning, Ditka told the arresting officer he was returning from downtown Chicago, but police said he slurred his speech and had the smell of alcohol on his breath. Ditka said the smell was caused by citrus-flavored chewing tobacco, police said. Ditka allegedly failed a field sobriety test and registered a .16 blood-alcohol content.

His brother, Michael Ditka, 49, was arrested April 20 and charged with DUI after being stopped in the parking lot of his Deerfield apartment complex. In July, those charges were upgraded to felony DUI because he had been arrested on DUI charges twice previously.