Daily Archives: May 3, 2012

Tonawanda, NY: Juror in Corasanti DUI death case dismissed after charged with mid-trial DUI | wivb.com

Posted by DUI Blotter on

There has been an ironic development in the Dr. James Corasanti case unrelated to the defendant.

News 4 learned Thursday morning after a two-hour delay in Judge Shelia DiTullio’s courtroom that Juror 4 had been dismissed from the trial and replaced with Alternate 1, though no explanation was given.

Now, News 4 has learned that Juror 4 was Michael Barron. Town of Tonawanda Police confirm the 40-year-old hit a pole on Elmwood shortly after midnight Thursday morning. Police say Barron fled the scene, and when they caught up to him, they found he was drunk.

read more here > Juror from Corasanti case facing DWI | WIVB.com.

Elyria, OH: 34-year-old man gets seventh DUI arrest | The Chronicle-Telegram

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Daniel Surry III, 34, also was charged with driving under suspension, reasonable control, leaving the scene and a blood-alcohol content of 0.18 percent after police said he crashed his motorcycle and attempted to leave the scene of the accident. Ohio law deems a driver impaired at 0.08 percent.

According to a police report, Surry had been driving his motorcycle with passenger Juanita Lorenzana at around 8:35 p.m. when they hit a large tree branch in the roadway. Lorenzana, a sister of Surry’s girlfriend, said the motorcycle crashed in the front yard of 533 Cambridge Ave.

via Elyria man gets seventh DUI arrest « The Chronicle-Telegram – Lorain County’s leading news source.

East Providence, RI: Driver Allegedly Rams Man Acting as Human Blockade. Charged with DUI, more | East Providence, RI Patch

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Police arrested a drunk driver after he allegedly drove his Dodge into a man who tried to corral the vehicle off Veterans Memorial Parkway until officers arrived on scene.

According to police reports, at about 7:27 p.m. on April 28, a man started following Richard Macedo after witnessing him almost run another car off the road with his erratic driving. The witness watched Macedo pull his older model Dodge into Metacomet Country Club. He stood in front of the way to get a license plate number and call the police.

The reportedly intoxicated 41-year-old then allegedly drove his vehicle into the man’s leg, breaking a front light and sending the him onto the hood of the car. The man allegedly tried to grab the windshield wiper for support but fell …

full story here > Driver Allegedly Rams Man Acting as Human Blockade – East Providence, RI Patch.

UPDATED — New Palestine, IN: Hancock County Coroner charged with DUI at death scene | indystar.com (see comment thread)

Posted by DUI Blotter on

Hancock County Coroner Tamara Vangundy was arrested early this morning after showing up apparently intoxicated, police said, at a death investigation in New Palestine.

Shortly before midnight Wednesday, Vangundy drove her own vehicle to a house in the Schildemeier Woods neighborhood near U.S. 52 and Hancock County Road 700 West, said Hancock County Sheriff Mike Shepherd. Deputies noticed that she staggered and generally seemed impaired, he said, and also detected a smell of an alcoholic beverage. They called Shepherd, who went to the scene.

“We administered an agility test, and she failed that,” Shepherd said. “So we took her to the jail and gave her a Breathalyzer test.”

Vangundy’s alcohol level was .16 percent, Shepherd said — twice the legal limit.

full story here > Hancock County Coroner Tamara Vangundy charged with DUI at death scene | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com.

Fort Worth: 24-year-old gets 20 years for drunken crash killing tanker driver, igniting inferno | star-telegram.com

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Louis Nieves

A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for driving the wrong way on Interstate 30 and slamming into a tanker truck, killing a father of three and causing a fiery crash that melted some of a bridge’s support structure.

On Tuesday, after a jury was seated for his trial, Louis Gerardo Nieves pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter in the death of Alejandro Raya, 45, on March 28, 2011. He asked the jury to decide punishment, according to a news release from the Tarrant County district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors Richard Alpert and Mark Thielman presented evidence that Nieves had consumed at least 10 beers at a downtown club before getting in his pickup. About 2:30 a.m., he was on Interstate 30, headed east in westbound lanes.

He slammed into an 18-wheeler carrying more than 7,000 gallons of fuel. The tanker exploded, killing Raya, who was trapped in the truck, and damaging the bridge over Sycamore Creek between Beach Street and Riverside Drive. Flames could be seen for miles.

Nieves’ blood alcohol concentration was 0.23 — nearly three times the legal limit

via Man gets 20 years for DWI wreck that killed tanker truck driver in Fort Worth | Crime and ….