Roanoke Rapids, NC: Highway Patrol Trooper Shoots, Kills Suspected Drunk Driver | digtriad.com

A state trooper shot and killed a suspected drunk driver Friday night, according to the state Highway Patrol.

Trooper Matt Pittman stopped the driver on Highway 158 around 10:30 p.m.

When Pittman smelled alcohol, he asked the driver, James Russell Moore, 64, to get out of the car. He then noticed Moore had a gun in his pocket, officials say.

The trooper told Moore to lie on the ground, and Moore didn’t listen.

Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulled out his handgun and pointed it at Trooper Pittman.

Pittman then shot Moore, who died at Halifax Regional Medical Center.

Pittman has been placed on administrative duty while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into the shooting, a standard procedure following an officer-involved shooting.

via NC Highway Patrol Trooper Shoots, Kills Suspected Drunk Driver | digtriad.com.

Mitchell, SD | Drunk Driver Gets 40 Years For Killing Girl | keloland.com

A Davison County Judge sentenced 46-year-old Michael Sedlmeier to 40 years in prison.

The Mitchell man led police on a chase at speeds of 59 miles per hour through town in March.  He ran a stop sign and hit an SUV carrying several children, including Iszabella “Bella” Morgan, who was ejected from the vehicle and killed.

read more here > KELOLAND.com | Drunk Driver Gets 40 Years For Killing Girl.

Montgomery Co., TX: Young woman charged with DWI in deadly I-45 wrong-way crash | khou.com

Nicole Baukus

A 23-year-old woman has been charged in a wrong-way crash that killed two people and injured another near Conroe early Friday, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

The crash happened on the North Freeway near Highway 242 shortly before 4 a.m.

Witnesses called police reporting that a pickup truck, driven by Nicole Baukus, was traveling northbound in the southbound lanes of the freeway. Before officers had a chance to get to the scene, Baukus slammed head-on into a car carrying three people.

The car driver, 19-year-old Nicole Adams, and a passenger in the back seat, Travis Saunders, were killed. The other victim’s name has not been released.

Remains of the victims’ vehicle

The third person in the car, 21-year-old David Porras, was rushed to a Houston hospital in critical but stable condition.

Baukus was also injured and taken to the hospital.

Investigators determined she had been drinking.

Baukus was charged with two counts of intoxication manslaughter and one count of intoxication assault.

Her bond is set at $140,000.

via Young woman charged with DWI in I-45 wrong-way crash | khou.com Houston.

San Mateo Co., CA: Lawyer convicted of trying to bribe way out of DUI – SFGate.com

Richard Chae, convicted of trying to bribe Colma police officers to avoid being arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Photo: San Mateo County Sheriff / SF

Richard Chae

A Palo Alto patent attorney with two DUI convictions under his belt was found guilty of bribery Thursday for trying to get out of a drunken-driving arrest in Colma by bribing police, prosecutors said.

Richard Chae, now 39, was driving his Lexus about 2:40 a.m. Feb. 26, 2010, when he was pulled over by Colma police on the 400 block of Serramonte Boulevard, said Steve Wagstaffe, San Mateo County district attorney.

The officers suspected Chae was drunk, Wagstaffe said. Chae allegedly offered them the $900 he said he had in his pocket if “this could all go away.”

The officers declined, so Chae upped the ante, offering $5,000 and then $35,000, Wagstaffe said.

It didn’t work. Police arrested him on suspicion of bribery and drunken driving. When they searched him, officers found $1,055 in cash and $135 in chips from the Lucky Chances casino in Colma, authorities said.

Tests showed that his blood-alcohol level was 0.13 percent, above the legal limit for driving of 0.08 percent, Wagstaffe said.

Chae was convicted of misdemeanor drunken driving in November, but the jury deadlocked on the bribery count. After a retrial, a new jury convicted him of that Thursday.

Chae attended MIT and Boston University School of Law before he was admitted to the California State Bar in 2003, records show. He is to be sentenced Aug. 24.

via Lawyer convicted of trying to bribe way out of DUI – SFGate.

Douglas Co., MN: 5th DUI earns 60-year-old 6 months in jail, 3 years probation | superiortelegram.com

A Barnes man will spend three years on probation and 180 days in jail for his fifth drunk driving incident.

Edward M. Coulombe, 60, pleaded guilty to one count count of operating while intoxicated-fifth or sixth offense earlier this month.

He was sentenced in Douglas County Circuit Court to three years of probation with conditions including 180 days jail and a 36-month driver’s license revocation. He must also undergo a chemical dependency evaluation, install an ignition interlock device and pay $1,604 in fines.

A Douglas County Sheriff’s Department deputy saw a vehicle turn south into the northbound lane of U.S. Highway 53 at 1:46 a.m. Feb. 18. The deputy stopped the vehicle, which was being driven by Coulombe. The Barnes man told the deputy he had consumed a 12-pack of beer that night and admitted he was under the influence. When the deputy told him he had been stopped for going the wrong way on the highway, Coulombe gave him a blank look. The complaint lists four previous intoxicated driving convictions between 1991 and 2000.

via Barnes man gets jail, probation for driving drunk | Superior Telegram | Superior, Wisconsin.

Detroit: Talking urinal cakes target drunk drivers | detroitnews.com

State officials are fighting drunken driving with talking urinal cakes.Talk about your captive audiences!

In an effort to cut down on drunken driving, the state is distributing the totally awesome named Interactive Urinal Communicators to some bars, restaurants and other drinkaterias in Wayne, Bay, Ottawa and Delta counties.

Yup, talking urinal cakes.

Four hundred of the cakes will be distributed to 200 eateries prior to July Fourth, said Anne Readette, spokeswoman for the Office of Highway Safety Planning, a division of the Michigan State Police.

“We’re doing this to draw attention to Fourth of July drunk driving enforcement,” Readette said.

“We want people to be safe and make responsible decisions.”

No joke: The company behind the product is Wizmark, a Crownsville, Md., outfit that bills itself as the only company in the world to produce interactive urinal cakes. Some sing and flash lights.

(Please resist the urge to envision a cake screaming: “I’m melting, I’m melting.”)

Actually the cakes offer a message that is short, sweet and entirely nonjudgmental: “Listen up. That’s right, I’m talking to you. Had a few drinks? Maybe a few too many?

“Then do yourself and everyone else a favor: Call a sober friend or a cab. Oh, and don’t forget to wash your hands.”

In a way the cakes, which are activate by motion and not moisture, are a brilliant move due to “Guy Rules,” the unwritten but unalterable codes that guide men’s social behavior for every event in life.

Really, really high on the list is that dudes never, ever look or talk to the guy on either side of the urinal.

Guys are limited to looking down or staring straight ahead (never up, if you’re really hammered you might fall over backward, which would break another important GR.)

The state also took into account that the last stop most guys make before leaving a bar is to the men’s room.

The cakes run about $21 each, last for about three months (man, that is a lot of rain) with the tab picked up by federal traffic safety funds.

via Michigan officials fight drunk driving with talking urinal cakes | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com.

San Antonio : Jury Recommends Probation for Deadly DWI. Judge sentences man to 6 months jail first | foxsanantonio.com

A jury recommended probation for a man convicted of being drunk while riding a motorcycle in a wreck that killed his female passenger.The judge, however, sentenced James Trimble, 28, to 180 days behind bars, in addition to placing him on probation for the next 10 years. Prosecutors say in 2008, Trimble was drunk when he crashed his motorcycle near Loop 1604 and Interstate 10.His passenger, Stacie Stevens, 23, died from her injuries.Prosecutors argued against probation because they say Trimble was already on probation for  D.W.I. in Bandera County at the time of the crash.

via KABB Fox San Antonio :: Top Stories – Jury Recommends Probation for Deadly DWI Accident — Jennifer Saucedo.

Vineland, NJ: Sotomayor Arrested for 6th DWI in 3 months | nbcphiladelphia.com

A Vineland man who made headlines earlier this year after being arrested for five DWIs in five weeks was arrested yet again for another DWI on Thursday, according to police.

Police say Anderson Sotomayor, 45, was pulled over and arrested at 7th and Chestnut in Vineland. When Sotomayor saw police, investigators say he threw alcoholic beverages out of his vehicle. He was pulled over and arrested.

“As they were going behind him he started discarding objects out of the car which they later determined to be alcoholic beverages,” said Lieutenant Matthew Finley of the Vineland Police Department. “He was taken out of the car and was found to be intoxicated again. He was placed under arrest and brought into the station. At the station he refused the breathalizer. Based on this being his sixth DWI arrest in the city within the last couple of months we made contact with the Superior Court Judge because he’s out on bail right now on drunk charges for one of the other DWI arrests. Superior Court Judge Swift revoked his bail so he’s currently lodged in county jail on a no bail warrant until he’s seen by the court.”

Sotomayor was previously arrested for drunken driving on April 9, April 11, April 25, May 12 and May 16.

read more here > Man Arrested for 6th DWI: Cops | NBC 10 Philadelphia.

Rancho Tehama, CA: One dead in apparent drunken driving wreck | redding.com

One person is dead after authorities say an intoxicated driver crashed his car in the Rancho Tehama area today.

Thomas Williams, 23, of Wentzville, Mo., was arrested on suspicion of committing vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence causing injury to another, said Pat Hurton, an officer with the Red Bluff California Highway Patrol station.

Williams and his passengers were headed south on Remunda Road in a 2007 Kia Spectra out of Missouri, Hurton said. Williams lost control and went off the left side of the road around 2:30 p.m. The car overturned and landed on its roof.

Will Duggan, 28, was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Redding with minor injuries and has been released, Hurton said. Another passenger, Lindsey Dennison, 29, of St. Charles, Mo., was taken to St. Elizabeth Hospital in Red Bluff for treatment.

Hurton said a passenger in his early 20s died at the scene. He was not wearing a seat belt, but wasn’t thrown from the car.

via CHP: One dead in drunken driving wreck » Redding Record Searchlight.

Brunswick Co., NC: 18-year-old girl charged in alleged DWI crash that killed father | wwaytv3.com

galloway.jpg

Brianna Galloway

A teenager is in jail charged with a drunk driving crash that killed her father early this morning in Brunswick County.

Highway Patrol says Brianna Galloway, 18, of Lumberton, is charged with DWI and felony death by motor vehicle.

Investigators say she was driving on Stone Chimney Road near NC 211 north of Shallotte at 1:37 a.m. when she ran off the left side of the road, hit a tree and flipped her car. Her father, Troy Kevin Galloway, 41, of Supply, died in the crash. Troopers say neither was wearing a seat belt.

Brianna Galloway is in the Brunswick County Jail under $50,000 bond.

via Teen charged in alleged DWI crash that killed father | WWAY NewsChannel 3 | Wilmington NC News.

San Antonio: Mom, 2 children killed in wreck; 2 other children critical. DWI charges for dad | kens5.com

A mother and her two children are dead following a crash into a construction zone early Monday morning on the city’s southwest side.

The crash occurred around 12:15 a.m. at Medina Base Road and Five Palms Drive.

San Antonio police said a man in his 30s was driving westbound on Medina Base when he lost control and crashed into the back of a bulldozer at a construction site.

A 2-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy were pronounced dead at the scene. Police said the children’s mother, in her late-20s, was also killed in the crash.

Two other children were taken to University Hospital in critical condition.

Police said the diver, who they also identified as the father, will be charged with three counts of intoxication manslaughter after he is released from the hospital, where he was taken to be treated for minor injuries.

read more here > SAPD: Mom, 2 children killed in wreck; DWI charges for dad | kens5.com San Antonio.

Batesville, AR: Drunk driver allegedly kills unborn child in weekend crash |kait8.com

Ernesto Berdeja  (Source:  Independence Co. Sheriff)

Ernesto Berdeja

A 35-year-old man is accused of driving drunk and killing an unborn child after an automobile accident this weekend.

The Independence County Sheriff’s Department filed for and received an affidavit warrant Tuesday through the 16th Judicial Prosecutor’s office and the Hon. Judge Chaney Taylor for the arrest of Ernesto Berdeja. He is charged with negligent homicide and driving while intoxicated.

This is the result of an investigation involving the death of an infant child in a car accident Saturday evening on Harrison Street in Batesville, according to a sheriff’s press release.

The sheriff’s department learned a pregnant woman lost the child during the accident involving a car and truck.

The press release states the infant was sent to the Arkansas Medical Examiner’s Office.

via Police: Drunk driver kills unborn child – KAIT-Jonesboro, AR-News, weather, sports, classifieds.

UPDATED – SEE COMMENTS | Fort Wayne, IN: Local news anchor charged with DUI – News-Sentinel.com

Mary Collins Frank

In her second brush with the law, Indiana’s NewsCenter morning anchor Mary Collins Frank was jailed Tuesday for allegedly driving drunk, according to Allen County court records.

As of midday Wednesday, her photograph and a biographical sketch had disappeared from the Indiana’s News Center website.

Frank was charged with a felony count of operating while intoxicated and having a prior conviction for the same offense. In 2009, she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor OWI charge.

According to court papers, Frank’s blood-alcohol content was measured at 0.14 percent, nearly twice the legal limit. She refused an initial breath test by police and was described as angry, argumentative and uncooperative in the papers.

read more here > Fort Wayne news anchor charged with DUI – News-Sentinel.com.

Columbia, SC: Man sentenced for 2009 DUI crash killing 2 college students | MidlandsConnect.com

Photo

Jabari Harding

A driver in a deadly  drunken driving incident that killed two Allen University students is sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Tuesday, in Richland County, Jabari Harding pleaded guilty to two counts of Reckless Homicide and was sentenced to prison for a term of ten years on each charge, to be served concurrently.

Jabari Harding was originally charged with three counts of Felony DUI, resulting from a crash on August 30, 2009 at the intersection of Gervais and Harden Streets.

Two Allen University students, Jerry Blandin and Courtney Williams, died in the collision.

via Drunk driver sentenced in roll in deadly 2009 accident : News : MidlandsConnect.com.