Don't Drink and Drive in March

You should never drink and drive. You should especially not drink and drive in the Indiana State Police District of Lowell (Lake and Porter Counties)during the month of March 2010.

According to the NWI Times article, "Indiana State Police Plan DUI Blitz", the Indiana State Police plan to dramatically step-up DUI enforcement in March.

Due to a history of traffic fatalities in March, Indiana State Police plan on at least one (1) sobriety checkpoint as well as routine saturated patrols during the latter half of the month. Chicago DUI News will keep you updated as this story progresses.

Indiana Court of Appeals Reverses DUI Conviction

Yesterday, the Indiana Court of Appeals announced a surprising reversal of a DUI conviction in Richard Gatewood v. State of Indiana, No. 03A04-0908-CR-449. Gatewood was convicted of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated in Bartholomew Superior Court by Judge Kathleen T. Coriden, Cause No. 03D02-0706-FD-0787.

Gatewood was suspected of being intoxicated while driving his moped to visit his mother at Columbus Regional Hospital in Columbus, Indiana on May 23, 2007. Police arrived at 9:00pm to find Gatewood sleeping next to his moped, and learned from hospital security guards that he had operated his moped approximately one (1) hour earlier. Police observed several physical symptoms of alcohol at that time, but had not observed Gatewood before 9:00pm. Security guards claim that Gatewood showed signs of difficulty walking, but Gatewood had suffered many physical injuries in both of his legs and often showed these signs.

The arresting officer, Officer Kapcynski, testified that probable cause for the arrest resulted from an inevitability of intoxication at the time Gatewood operated his moped based on Gatewood's state at 9:00pm, despite the fact that the officer could not estimate the amount of vodka a man Gatewood's size would have to consume in an hour in order to reach the blood-alcohol content found in Gatewood's blood. The jury in the Bartholomew Superior Court agreed, and convicted Gatewood of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated, a Class D Felony for a second offense.

Judge Nancy Vaidik, a judge on the Indiana Court of Appeals and a former Porter Superior Court Judge, reasoned that evidence of Gatewood's intoxication at 9:00pm was insufficient to show that he operated his moped in an intoxicated state at 8:00pm, simply based on evidence that he was intoxicated at 9:00pm.

Has this happened to someone you know?

Cross posted @ NWI Lawyer.

Drunk Driver Causes Mishawaka Officer's Death, MADD Proposes Solution

Have you ever heard of technology that requires a driver to blow into a breathalyzer before he can drive?

Yes, you heard correctly, it's not something you saw on CSI, it is a real world solution to prevent drunken driving for repeat offenders, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers ("MADD") believes.

On Sunday, the South Bend Tribune reported an anecdote of a repeat offender who received leniency on his first (3) DUI's, and on his fourth, ended up killing Mishawaka Police Cpl. James Szuba, when Devine's SUV plowed into his police cruiser during a pursuit.

Unfortunately, tales like these aren't all that uncommon. Something is necessary to prevent the death and destruction caused by drunk driving. At the same time, Space Age technology seems to be a very expensive option.

Who should bear this cost?

Portage Officer Repeats as Leader in DUI Arrests

BY JAMES D. WOLF JR. , POST-TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT

VALPARAISO -- In the midst of the holiday season, Porter County law enforcement on Thursday recognized the officers making the roads safer.

The Drunk Driving Task Force, at its fourth annual awards banquet, acknowledged the officers who made most of the 926 drunken driving arrests in the county from November 2008 to October.

That total has gone down from 1,148 arrests last year and 1,260 the year before, "which I hope is a good thing," said Sgt. Mike Grennes of the Valparaiso Police Department. It might mean the word is getting out, he said.

Police forces having the highest "operating while intoxicated" arrest rate this year are Portage Police Department with 296, Porter County Sheriff's Department with 198 and Valparaiso Police Department with 131.

For the fourth consecutive year, Officer Michael Candiano of Portage made the most OWI arrests by a single officer, a total of 67. That's down from the 73 arrests made from November 2007 through October 2008 and the 113 from the previous year. Candiano said on each of his midnight shifts, he tries to find a drunken driver.

"People think it's just a weekend problem, but it's not," he said.

It's become a passion for him because he lost a high school friend to a drunken driver, and in his rookie year, he saw a dispatcher killed.

"I saw it at the very beginning and how it trickled down through lives," he said.

The second highest OWI arrests were by Officer Brian Gill of the Sheriff's Department. He had 46 arrests during his night shifts.

"Most of them find me," he said.

Many fall asleep at traffic lights and train crossings. Gill's father was hit by a drunken driver about five years ago, which meant hospital stays, surgeries and a year away from work.

Officer Anthony Dandurand of the Hebron Police Department's night shift made 40 OWI arrests, which put him in third.