DWI Hit Parade!

RALEIGH, NC (WMBF) – During a St. Patrick’s Day “Booze It and Lose It” campaign in NC, state and local law enforcement cited more than 1,000 motorists for driving while impaired.

The campaign, which ran March 11 through March 17, netted 1,013 DWI citations. A total of 32,579 traffic and criminal citations were issued statewide.

Officers across the state conducted 2,628 sobriety checkpoints and patrols. Counties with the highest number of DWI citations were Mecklenburg with 124, Wake with 94 and Buncombe with 40.

The following persons were arrested for DWI and booked into the Kane County Illinois Jail of Sheriff Patrick B. Perez:
Anthony Delane Stewart, 40, on 3/22/2011 at 10:03 am
Marco Antonio Arteaga, 43, on 12/10/2010 at 1:12 am
Eric Michael Barth, 22, on 12/30/2010 at 3:12 am ($1 million bail)
James Robert Beavers, 33, on 4/7/2010 at 12:04 pm (and arson)
Henry Benjamin, 38, on 3/15/2011 at 1:03 pm
Andrew Cabin, 38, on 3/13/2011 at 10:03 am
Marco Antonio Caballero, 30, on 12/8/2010 at 11:12 am
Alberto Martin Cedillo, 48, on 12/30/2010 at 12:12 pm (zero tolerance sentenced to jail)
Eugene Tex Cobb, 22, on 3/22/2011 at 11:03 am (sentenced to jail)
Saqueo Covarruvias-Jaimes, 25, on 2/24/2011 at 12:02 pm (sentenced to jail)
John Thomas Dean, 40, on 9/23/2010 at 11:09 am (sentenced to jail)

From Chicago Breaking News
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — If anyone was unclear about how swiftly Notre Dame turned the page on Michael Floyd, one only needed turn the pages of the 13-page spring practice prospectus distributed Tuesday.
He is not on the roster. He is not mentioned in a position group preview. He is mentioned only in the sense that he won’t be back, in a team preview section that reviews the talent lost from 2010.
Spring practice begins Wednesday morning, and Irish coach Brian Kelly said during a news conference to preview it that he and his team cannot wait around on the fate of a star player facing possible legal and university discipline after a weekend arrest.
“Whether there is an injury or somebody is not with us, our focus is strictly on the guys that are here,” Kelly said. “We’re preparing our football team through skill development and unit consistency around the guys that are here. That really hasn’t changed much, in how I go to work every day, whether there’s a suspension or not.”
Floyd was arrested early Sunday and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence, after he allegedly ran a stop sign and then registered a .19 blood-alcohol content after Notre Dame police pulled him over, documents released Monday showed.   ….MORE

From Seattle Times
Seattle police have launched an internal investigation into the alleged mishandling of dozens of drunken-driving cases by members of the department’s DUI Squad, prompting city attorneys to put some prosecutions on hold.
City Attorney Peter Holmes said in a statement that his criminal division will review current and past driving-under-the-influence (DUI) cases to determine whether they may be affected by the pending findings of the police investigation.
The investigation, disclosed by sources familiar with the matter and later confirmed by the department, is focused on accusations that arrest reports weren’t properly screened and approved by a sergeant in the DUI Squad, as required under department policy. The investigation has forced the department to pull all but one member of its five-member DUI Squad from the street and assign them to desk duties, according to police.  ….MORE
From Seattle PI
All but one member of the Seattle police DUI squad have been reassigned and are being investigated by the department.  · Read the full police statement
Beginning March 8, the DUI squad sergeant was investigated after Capt. Dick Belshay reviewed what the department called supervisory inconsistencies from the squad.   …MORE

From Mercury News
SAN DIEGO—A veteran San Diego police officer has been charged with eliciting sexual favors from three women during DUI traffic stops.
The San Diego Union-Tribune says Anthony Arevalos entered not guilty pleas Monday to 10 felony counts, including sexual battery by restraint, receiving a bribe, assault and battery by an officer and false imprisonment. ….MORE

From Trib Local
A 33-year-old Tinley Park man argued with police about his arrest for driving under the influence at 2:43 a.m. March 18 near the intersection of Oak Park Avenue and 175th Street because he said he was walking home from the bar, not driving.
According to police, the man was pulled over after allegedly stopping his car inside an intersection at a red light and weaving inside his lane…..MORE

From Gaston Gazette.com
A Gastonia man now has three pending DWI charges in Gaston County after his arrest Saturday in Mount Holly.
Linton Shirmund Lovell, 29, of 2904 Fallswood Drive, blew a 0.09 on an Intoxilyzer test. North Carolina law considers a driver impaired with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or more.
Mount Holly Police Officer J. Arthurs stopped Lovell at 11:52 p.m. Saturday on South Main Street driving 53 mph in a 35-mph zone, according to a citation. Lovell told the officer he had drank alcohol about an hour earlier, according to the citation…..MORE

From Contra Costa Times
ANTIOCH — Drunken driving coupled with stormy weather likely caused a weekend car wreck that killed a 19-year-old man and critically injured a 16-year-old girl, police said.
Pablo Garibay, of Antioch, died late Saturday when the Dodge Durango he was riding in hit a retaining wall on rain-slicked James Donlon Boulevard near Nightingale Drive, flipping on its side.
Police say Garibay and four other teens were leaving an area party and had been drinking alcohol. The 18-year-old driver was hospitalized for moderate injuries and likely will be prosecuted for DUI once blood tests are completed, acting Lt. Diane Aguinaga said.
Garibay was pronounced dead shortly after the crash, which occurred about 11:25 p.m., police said. A 16-year-old girl was taken to the hospital with critical injuries, and her twin sister suffered serious injuries that do not appear life-threatening, police said. ….MORE

Police headquarters of Washington, North Carolina in 1940.   LOC

Police motorcycle at Washington, North Carolina police dept. in 1938. Photo by John Vachon U. S. Farm Security Administration.