A Deputy with the El Paso County Sheriff's office, Tony Scherb, was presented the 6th annual Ken Jordan Award on Tuesday, representing excellence in enforcement of Colorado DUI laws. Eight law enforcement officials were nominated for the award, including fellow Deputy Sgt. Michael Schaller and three candidates each from the Colorado Springs Police Department and the Fort Carson Police Department.
Schaub has been part of the Sheriff's office since 1987, and was assigned to patrol duty in 1994. Two years later, he became one of the first Deputies to be assigned a position on the Sheriff's Office Traffic Unit.
This law enforcement award was named in honor of a former Colorado Springs Police Officer, Ken Jordan, who was shot by a DUI suspect, Marco Lee, in 2006 after Lee had been pulled over by another law enforcement agent for suspician of driving under the influence.
The preceding Colorado DUI Attorney news item was brought to you by Ann Toney To view Ms. Toley's Colorado DUI Attorney page, click here.
John West, a 50-year old man from Greer, South Carolina, was charged with driving under the influence on Thursday after losing control of his truck and striking another vehicle in traffic on Highway 14 North, near Berry Hill Road. According to official reports from law enforcement, West was traveling East on Highway 14 at approximately 6:10 PM when a vehicle heading in the opposite direction slowed to make a turn on to Berry Hill Road.
The driver of the second vehicle, Teresa Smith, slowed to make the turn when West, without slowing down, struck the side of Smith's vehicle. Smith, 37 years old and also from Greer, was wearing her seatbelt and was uninjured. John West, who also was wearing his seatbelt, wasn't quite as lucky. After striking Smith's vehicle, West lost control of his truck and ran off the road into a wooded area. He suffered some serious injuries and was pinned inside his vehicle. Once he was pulled from his truck, he was airlifted to nearby Greenville Memorial Hospital.
In Pennsylvania, legislation has been forwarded that could make the use of an ignition interlock device mandatory for first time DUI offenders. Ignition interlock devices are small hand-held breath testing equipment that are installed on the steering column of a vehicle. Before the interlock device will allow the engine to be started, the driver must provide a sober breath sample, or the car simply won't start. To avoid situations where a person who is drinking simply has a sober friend provide the breath sample, the ignition interlock devices also require periodic random breath samples once the vehicle is in motion. The device will sound an alarm if the random sample isn't provided, which gives the driver of the vehicle more than enough time to get pulled off the road where they can breathe into the device.
The Pennsylvania legislation, Senate Bill 1184, will be presented for a vote to the full senate this Spring, but lawmakers and anti-drunk driving advocates like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) are confident that the measure will be passed into law. Currently, sixteen states have similar laws in place, with Connecticut being the latest state to turn to the interlock devices to help them reduce the number of DUIs and DUI-related accidents. Sixteen additional states have more lenient versions of this law, with those states only mandating the use of the devices for first time DUI and DWI offenders who register blood alcohol levels of 1.5 or above. Pennsylvania is one of 8 states that require the devices to be used only for second time offenders.
A Richfield man, 30 year old Alan Askwith, was arrested Friday evening on suspicion of driving while under the influence, illegal discharge of a firearm, crualty to animals, obstructing justice and more. Askwith was driving south on highway I-15 between Nephi and Santaquin, when he allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot a dog sitting on the passenger side floorboards. In the process of shooting the dog in his vehicle, Askwirth also hit his wife in the leg.
After he shot the dog...and his wife, Askwirth then reportedly threw the gun out the window and took his wife to a local Juab county hospital, where she was treated and then released. Askwirth wasn't as lucky, as a local law enforcement officer was at the hospital, following up on an unrelated accident, and arrested Askwirth on the charges listed. Askwirth is now being held on $10,000 bail.
No details have been released as to why Askwirth shot the dog...
Charles James, from the Township of Willingsboro, pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide this past Tuesday after causing the death of Keith Buxton, 56, from Evesham on Northbound I-295. James' crashed into the disabled SUV of Michael Cericola as Buxton stood in front of the vehicle with the hood up, attempting to get the SUV back on the road again. Keith Buxton's daughter, who was standing beside the vehicle, and Cericola, her boyfriend, were both injured in the accident. James' admitted to drinking a substantial amount of alcohol, equal to 8-9 beers, before driving that evening.
The crash occured on James' 41st birthday, and when police arrived, James blood alcohol level was measured at 0.143, nearly twice New Jersey's legal limit of .080. Burlington County Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Eife submitted a plea that called for James, a former convicted felon who served a prior prison term before being released in 2007, to serve 8½ years before becoming eligible for parole. James has no previous history of driving while iintoxicated, though he does have 14 license suspensions for administrative matters and was cited for careless driving in 2010 and for speeding and being an unlicensed driver in April. James, who has five separate aliases on record, has 23 indictable convictions over a ten year span between 1990 and 2000.
The preceding New Jersey DWI news report was brought to you by Evan Levow. To visit Mr. Levow's New Jersey DWI Attorney page, click here.
According to local reports, the Washington state holiday DUI enforcement released results from its campaign that ran from November 24 through January 2. Officials were unanimously supportive of the efforts to curb DUI cases in their state, with representatives from virtually all areas of Skagit, Island, Whatcom, and Snohomish counties speaking out in support of the coordinated law enforcement campaign.
In Snohomish County, 397 motorists were pulled over and arrested for driving under the influence. Statewide, law enforcement arrested 3,812 drivers for DUI. The Arlington, Brier, Edmonds, Everett, Granite Falls, Lake Stevens, Lynnwood, Marysville, Mill Creek, Monroe, Mountlake Terrace, Mukilteo, and Tulalip Tribal Police Departments, the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol participated in the extra emphasis patrols, with the support of the Snohomish County DUI & Target Zero Traffic Safety Task Force. A grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission funded the extra patrols.
During the same holiday period last year, officers in Snohomish County arrested 409 people for DUI-related offenses. During 2010, drunk drivers killed an estimated 188 people, a number that represents more than 40 percent of the 458 people who lost their lives on Washington’s roadways.
The preceding Washington DUI news update was brought to you by Aaron Wolff. To view Mr. Wolff's Washington DUI page, click here.
On Friday, San Diego judge Eugenia Eyherabide recalled an outstanding bench warrant for troubled actor Griffin O'Neal and reset O'Neal's sentencing for February 3rd. This comes as a response to O'Neal checking himself into a residential rehab facility. O'Neal was arrested for DUI in August, and was charged with domestic violence on New Year's eve.
In O'Neal's DUI crash, police charged the son of Hollywood superstar Ryan O'Neal with six separate felony and misdemeanor counts, including DUI with injury, possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon. Police toxicology tests indicated that O'Neal had amphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and Xanax in his system at the time of his accident.
Griffin O'Neal's attorney, Heather Boxeth, told reporters that her client checked himself into a residential rehabilitation facility after his latest arrest because it was the responsible thing to do, rather than to avoid court. O'Neal faces up to 4 years in prison when sentencing is handed out. O'Neal pleaded guilty in November to DUI with injury and being a felon in possession of a gun. He also admitted a 1992 conviction for shooting into his ex-girlfriend's unoccupied vehicle.
The preceding San Diego DUI news update was brought to you by Matthew Spiegel of the Spiegel Law Group. You can visit Mr. Spiegel's San Diego DUI Attorney page here, and the Spiegel Law Group's website here.
Local Georgia State Representative John Andrew "Kip" Smith (R) was arrested this past Friday in Buckhead, Georgia for driving under the influence. According to reports, Rep. Smith was pulled over by local Georgia police officers when he allegedly ran a red light. The arresting officer initially smelled alcohol when Smith rolled down his window, and the officer asked Smith if he had been drinking. Rep. Smith then told the officer "No," before ammending his story to include only one beer he had consumed approoximately 45 minutes earlier. He then recanted that statement and told officers that the beer he drank had only been 15 minutes earlier.
Rep Smith refused to take the breathalyzer test, and requested that he be tested at a hospital. When told that could only occur if he was arrested, Smith agreed to take the breathalyzer test and clocked between .090 and .100 on the breathalyzer, a good bit higher than Georgia's .080 limit. The reading belies the story of "one beer," as one beer at Smith's body weight would be highly unlikely to cause him to register such an elevated level of alcohol in his system.
The preceding Georgia DUI news was brought to you by Patrick Kunes, of the Kunes Law Office. To visit Mr. Kunes Tiftin County DUI Attorney page, simply click the link in this sentence.
