Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Posts Tagged ‘DUI’

Sacrament California will test requiring that drivers convicted of drunken driving install devices that block vehicles from starting if alcohol is detected on the drivers’ breath. The bill requires installing an ignition interlock device on every vehicle owned or operated by a first-time DUI offender in four counties: Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare. The law expires in 2016.

My question is why hasn’t this been done before?

Andrew

A Georgetown man pled guilty Thursday to intoxication assault and aggravated assault relating to a car crash last year in which a police officer’s leg was crushed, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley said.

As Part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Tommy Hagar, 56, was sentenced to two 10-year prison terms, which will run concurrently, Bradley said.  He will
serve at least five years in prison before he is eligible for parole.

About 7 p.m. December 29, Georgetown police officer Keith Laughlin, 26, was attempting to jump-start a vehicle that had stalled on Austin Avenue in downtown Georgetown when the pickup Hagar was driving rear-ended the car, Bradley said. Laughlin was pinned between his patrol car and the vehicle he was jump-starting and his left leg was crushed, Bradley said.

Bradley said Hagar was arrested and told police he was driving while intoxicated. His blood alcohol level was .20, more than twice the legal limit for driving, Bradley said.

Since the crash, Laughlin has undergone five surgeries and is walking, Bradley said. He has not returned to work.

Robert Benn, who had just flown into Austin after the birth of his third grandchild, was heading from the airport to his hotel about 10 p.m. Monday when police said he neared Airport Boulevard and Bolm Road in East Austin.

Just then, investigators said, a motorist in a Lincoln Navigator suspected of drunken driving began fleeing an Austin police officer and sped through the intersection, slamming into Benn, who had a green light.

Benn, a 64-year-old business analyst,died at the scene.

Austin police said charges are pending against the driver, whose name has not been released. He was taken to University Medical Center Brackenridge with minor injuries.

Authorities said a preliminary investigation shows that an officer saw the Navigator near East Seventh Street and North Pleasant Valley Road and suspected the driver was drunk. The officer began, following the SUV, which continued to violate other traffic laws, officials said. The officer then activated his lights and tried to pull the driver over.

Police said that the driver did not stop and instead drove about 20 mph on several streets. He then turned east onto Bolm Road, gunned the engine and sped toward Airport Boulevard before running the red light.

Authorities said the pursuing officer appeared to have acted according to policy.  Austin police policy requires officers to consider the offense, the amount of traffic and, whether they know the identity of the offender before a pursuit. Once officers initiate a chase, they are required to broadcast to other officers the reason of the pursuit, the location, the direction of travel and a description of the car.

Investigators suspect alcohol was a factor in an overnight head-on collision between a car and an SAUV on the Dallas North Tollway late Monday.

Investigators say 28-year-old Jenny Hall of Dallas was driving the SUV north in the southbound lanes for four miles before it slammed into the car.

Hall and the driver of the car, Carl Thomas Lotspeich of Addison, were killed, a medical examiner’s office said.

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Wesley Ray Marek, arrested August 11th, 2006, after a Round Rock officer stopped him over a possible traffic violation on Sam Bass Road, was sentenced in Williamson County recently to 25 years in prison after his 10th conviction on driving while intoxicated charges.

The officer found that Marek was wanted in Brown County, almost 100 miles west of Waco, on a probation violation and was driving with a suspended license.

Because he had been convicted of three or more driving while intoxicated charges, the most recent charge was a third-degree felony.  In addition, because he had been sentenced to prison at least two previous times, the charge was enhanced to a first-degree felony, punishable by 25 to 99 years or life in prison.