Holiday DUI arrests up by 5% over 2003 | CHP says 280 cited on local highways
June 2, 2004 No CommentsBrian Hazle. The San Diego Union – Tribune. San Diego, Calif.: Jun 2, 2004. pg. B.3.1.6
The number of drunken-driving arrests on San Diego County highways rose slightly over the Memorial Day weekend compared with last year, the California Highway Patrol said yesterday.
Over the weekend, 280 motorists were arrested on suspicion of driving drunk, about 5 percent more than last year’s 266 drunken- driving arrests, the CHP said.
Statewide, there were 1,758 drunken-driving arrests, up from 1,694 last year.
The CHP includes in its statistics arrests made from 6 p.m. Friday through midnight Monday. Figures do not include arrests made by police and sheriff’s departments. A sobriety checkpoint Saturday in Pacific Beach resulted in 10 arrests on suspicion of driving under the influence that were not included in the CHP figures, San Diego police said.
Although the number of drunken-driving arrests was up in the county, the increase was far smaller than the 30 percent spike measured last year. Statewide, the number of drunken-driving arrests over Memorial Day weekend last year rose 12 percent from 2002. Those increases came after years of falling arrest levels.
Authorities attribute the spikes to an increase in the number of officers patrolling the highways during the holiday weekend.
“We are hoping we are getting the message out: Don’t drink and drive, because we are out in force,” said CHP Officer Lorenzo Ruano, a spokesman for the Border Division that is based in San Diego.
The number of people killed in traffic accidents in California over the holiday weekend dropped dramatically, the CHP said. Statewide, 37 people — four of them in San Diego County — were killed in traffic-related incidents, officials said. The state had 63 fatalities last year, including three in San Diego County.
The totals include accidents that occurred in all police jurisdictions.
During a crackdown at the border over the weekend, San Diego police said they turned back 234 minors who tried to cross into Mexico without a parent or guardian Saturday and Sunday.
Sixty-five people were arrested for being drunk in public as they crossed back into San Diego from Tijuana, police said.
Brian Hazle: (619) 593-4952; brian.hazle@uniontrib.com
