Imagine being pulled over one night…You’ve been visiting a few bars and there’s a chance that you could be over the legal drinking limit.  What you don’t know is that private investigators who have been hired by your ex-wife have notified the police that you’re drunk driving.

So you’ve been pulled over and now you’re having health issues because you’re a diabetic.  You ask the police for medical help and they deny you urgent care.  It isn’t until several hours later that a nurse at the jail notices that your blood-glucose levels are extremely high.  The police finally decide to take you to the emergency room.

If this happened to you, what would you do?

Well, this has happened to John F. Steel IV, the former CEO of San Diego biomed company MicroIslit, and now he’s suing for allegations of false arrest, negligence, battery, excessive force and conspiracy.

Click here to read the full story at SignOnSanDiego.com…

This is definitely one of those cases in which you would want to hire a professional and experienced San Diego DUI lawyer to help you!

KPBS reports that a law enforcement agency in San Diego’s north county is getting a grant to step up DUI enforcement along State Route 76.  The highway has seen 13 deaths and 303 injuries related to DUI’s on the road in the past three years.

California Highway 76 begins in Downtown Oceanside and runs east approximately 52 miles to a junction with California Highway 79 near Lake Henshaw.  It is only a two-lane highway, which may be another reason why there are so many accidents – and not just DUI accidents.  Accidents on 76 was such a common occurrence that the Californai Department of Transportation had to produce this video.

What’s nice now is that CalTrans is working on widening Highway 76 from a winding, two-lane road to a straighter four-lane highway.  The project should be completed in 2012 or 2013.

Whether or not an increase in DUI enforcement along Highway 76 will help – only time will tell.  There are, however, many other ways that we could help in preventing drunk driving.

If you’ve been arrested for a DUI in San Diego, get the help that you need!

This Union Tribune article says that DUI checkpoints will increase in Escondido, an area in North County.  The Escondido police department plan to have 12 DUI checkpoints as opposed to 9 which have been set up in the past couple years.  According to traffic Sgt. Dana Ray, the department has made 69 DUI arrests in the past two years.  I don’t know about you, but 69 arrests doesn’t seem like much considering that there were probably so many more people out there who did drink and drive but didn’t get caught.

I often wonder if sobriety checkpoints are truly effective.  The Fourth Amendment comes to mind which is the amendment that guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.  Some would say that checkpoints are not unreasonable considering that they help protect the roads and highways while others feel that checkpoints violate our privacy.

Looking at the Fourth Amendment from another perspective…What if the police came knocking at your door every weekend wanting to search your home to make sure you weren’t harboring criminals?  Wouldn’t you feel violated?  Wouldn’t you want a search warrant?  What makes searching cars any different?

I believe that education is the key to prevent drunk driving, in addition to offering more help and counseling for repeat drunk drivers.

What do you think?

Here’s another article of interest: Legality of Sobriety Checkpoints

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Need help with your San Diego DUI?  Get help from an experienced DUI defense lawyer!  Call 619-244-4068

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Photo Credit:  ZanePaul Photos

Finally, justice is served.  John Joseph Taskey will be sentenced to 15 years to life in state prison on Nov. 12.  Taskey was on parole for a DUI conviction when he drove drunk and caused a freeway crash that killed a 75-year-old grandmother and injured a child back in September 2007 here in San Diego.  He pleaded guilty to murder to second-degree murder this week.

Yes, these seemingly senseless things happen and I’m sure they happen for a reason, but at the same time I know that this could have been prevented.  I’ve written before about the different ways that we could prevent drunk driving, but an idea has come to me that I’d like to share.  Tell me what you think…

What if drunk drivers had to watch so many hours of video showing people who were involved in San Diego DUI accidents?  What if that was part of their DUI program?  Let’s say every time they went to their rehabilitation or DUI class, convicted drunk drivers had to watch at least an hour-long video with images of people who had died from a drunk driver.  Wouldn’t that make some kind of impact?  I think so.

Source: San Diego 6

Earlier this month a 19-year-old San Diego man was ordered to year in jail after driving drunk and killing a homeless man.  The incident happened in January of this year and Alec O’Keefe Rowe pleaded guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter in July.

Vehicular manslaughter is the crime of negligently driving a vehicle and directly causing the death of another human.  A vehicular manslaughter charge can result in the death of a passenger in your own car if the death was caused while breaking the law.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser presided over the case and it was noted that in his 11 years on the bench, he’s never given probation in this type of situation.  Fraser based his decision on the intense remorse and commitment to rehabilitation by the defendant.

So the question remains…

Was the judge right or wrong to give this 19-year-old a break?

Or better yet….What if O’Keefe had hit someone who wasn’t homeless?  There was nobody in the court to represent Darin Albert Victor who was the one killed in this tragic event.  Granted, the death of Victor wasn’t premeditated, however, is one year in jail enough?

Source:  SignOnSanDiego.com

If you need help with your San Diego DUI, contact a lawyer who specializes in DUI cases…

The three-day Labor Day weekend in the U.S. is a time of gatherings and parties.  Summer is almost over in San Diego and everyone wants to just relax and unwind.  Of course, it’s also a weekend full of traffic and drunk drivers on the roadways which means more sobriety checkpoints.  In East Chula Vista my friend and I had to drive through a checkpoint right by the entrance of Freeway 125.  Every time it’s a holiday weekend, that’s where law enforcement establishes their post. 

Anyhow, here are some interesting statistics I came across in this article over at SignOnSanDiego.com titled “Holiday highway death toll drops in San Diego“.  The article states that three people died in traffic accidents during the Labor Day weekend, which is a 50% decrease from last year. 

However, there were 120 arrests for drunk driving in San Diego over the weekend which is an increase from last year’s 107 arrests.  Across the state of California there were 1,586 drunk driving arrests which was 6 more than 2007. 

Which makes me wonder…

Are sobriety checkpoints really that much of a drunk driving deterrent?  Granted, the number of arrests haven’t increased that much, but you have to wonder if there is anything more that should be done to actually bring down those numbers.

Here’s some of the latest San Diego DUI news…

• A man has been put under arrest for suspicion of drunk driving after he ran into a fire hydrant near the intersection of Woodman and Imperial Ave. in Encanto. (Source:  SignOnSanDiego.com)

• I always find it interesting when a police officer is arrested for a DUI.  The latest felon is a veteran Oceanside officer who has been reassigned to administrative duties at a desk after injuring himself and a passenger in an accident while he was off-duty.  (Source:  North County Times)

• Safe Ride Solutions has found a way to save the careers of professional athletes.  The organization consists of off-duty and retired officers who pick up and drive clients safely home in their own cars.  Clients don’t have to deal with cabs or limo drivers, thus protecting their privacy.  (Source: DUI Daily)

• Although this news isn’t specific to San Diego, it’s something to think about.  College leaders are pushing to lower the drinking age limit to 18.  Yay or nay?  Put in your two cents over at the LATimes.com

Read more DUI News…

Remember to get help with your DUI in San Diego!

In San Diego drunk driving news this week…

• A 20-year-old man was arrested Tuesday night after smashing his car into a taco shop on the corner of College Avenue and Montezuma Road. The driver had two passengers in the car with him and was allegedly traveling at about 100 mph before he crashed. This happened around 2 o’ clock in the morning. There were no fatalities, but all passengers suffered injuries. Let’s hope that the driver learned his lesson! (Source)

• Another drunk driving accident that happened this past Tuesday night has left two people dead and the driver, Shannon Kelly Shimp, is now behind bars with bail set at $200,600. The accident occurred in Ramona along State Route 78. Shimp was driving a flatbed truck that landed on top of a Lexus. The driver of the Lexus, 19-year-old Ian Kinney, passed away at the scene. Kinney’s father spoke out about the accident and hopes that Shimp “suffers as much as I suffer, and his family suffers and his mother suffers”. (Source)

We don’t like to read bad news like this, but I share them with you in hopes that you learn from these people’s mistakes!

If you need help with your DUI in San Diego, make sure to hire a San Diego DUI lawyer who understands what you’re going through!

Just when I thought there wasn’t enough being done about keeping famous athletes and celebrities from drunk driving, I come across this article about Safe Ride Solutions, a San Diego based DUI-prevention service that caters to professional athletes nationwide. The service is currently available in more than a dozen cities where clients pay anywhere from $200 – $300 to be chauffeured around all night. A simple pick-up service is also available.

Safe Ride Solutions was masterminded by Gary Lawrence, a San Diego police detective. When Lawrence heard about the Steve Foley incident, he realized that something needed to be done.

Right now there are 9 NFL teams using the service with the San Diego Chargers as the biggest client – of course! However, Hollywood actors and business executives have also signed up for the service. Annual membership costs $100 per person. It’s certainly a small price to pay to be safe on the road!

Read more about Safe Ride Solutions at SignOnSanDiego.com or visit their website: www.saferidesolutions.net

Make sure to hire an experienced and dedicated San Diego DUI lawyer to help you with your case.  Get help with your San Diego DUI now!