15 beers too many.

I do not advocate drunk driving by any means. Many people drive after having one or two drinks, this is a discussion for another time, but how could Mr. Ortiz even walk after 10 beers let alone 24? Didn't the clerk at the liquor store detect anything? Worse yet, how drunk were his passengers?

A Southwest Side man admitted he drank 24 beers and had picked up another six-pack before a weekend crash that killed a top official with the Cook County sheriff's office, prosecutors said in court today.Leonel Ortiz, 27, of the 5800 block of South Albany Avenue is charged with felony reckless homicide and aggravated driving under the influence in the crash Sunday that killed Sheriff's Supt. Minerva Santiago, authorities said.
Ortiz also was cited with driving on a suspended license and disobeying a red light, police said.Ortiz said in a videotaped statement to authorities that he had attended several parties Saturday night and early Sunday and consumed as many as 24 beers before getting into his Chevrolet Blazer with friends and driving to get more alcohol, prosecutors said during a bond hearing this afternoon.
After picking up another six-pack, Ortiz drank two more beers while driving his friends back to a female friend's house, prosecutors said. He dropped them off and about 10 a.m. was driving south on Western Avenue when he ran a red light and slammed into the driver's side of Santiago's Nissan Murano, which was traveling east on 31st Street, prosecutors said. Santiago was on her way to church at the time.