SAN DIEGO, Calif. (CBS 8) - A man accused of being drunk when he plowed into the back of a car on the side of a San Diego freeway New Year's Day, killing a pregnant woman and her unborn child and injuring two others, was charged Wednesday with vehicular manslaughter and DUI.
Joseph Anthony Venegas, 40, was charged with one count of gross vehicular manslaughter and two counts of DUI causing injury, prosecutors said.
Venegas, who was not in court Wednesday, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday because he is currently in medical isolation, authorities said.
The defendant is accused of driving drunk when he hit the car Elaina Luquis-Ortiz, 21, and two friends were sitting in while waiting for assistance at the side of Interstate 805 near Home Avenue. The two other adults received serious injuries.
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Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
New Year’s DUI arrests, fatal crashes increase
SAN DIEGO COUNTY — Arrests for driving under the influence and fatal crashes over the New Year’s holiday were up from 2009 locally and across California, law enforcement agencies reported yesterday.
The California Highway Patrol said it made 83 arrests in San Diego County for driving under the influence between New Year’s Eve and yesterday, compared with 73 last year. Countywide there were three deaths from crashes during the same period, up from one last year.
Separately, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said a consortium of 14 law enforcement agencies made a combined 829 DUI arrests in their jurisdictions between Dec. 18 and midnight Sunday. Last year, the total from the operation, called the Avoid Campaign, resulted in 496 arrests. It involved extra officers and deputies on patrols and checkpoints during the holiday period,
There were four collisions resulting in injury or death in San Diego County on New Year’s Day, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Statewide, the CHP said its officers made 1,252 DUI arrests during the New Year’s period, up from 986 last year. This year statewide there was a total of 30 persons who died in crashes, up from 19 last year. In nine of this year’s deaths, the victim was not wearing a seat belt.
Source
The California Highway Patrol said it made 83 arrests in San Diego County for driving under the influence between New Year’s Eve and yesterday, compared with 73 last year. Countywide there were three deaths from crashes during the same period, up from one last year.
Separately, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said a consortium of 14 law enforcement agencies made a combined 829 DUI arrests in their jurisdictions between Dec. 18 and midnight Sunday. Last year, the total from the operation, called the Avoid Campaign, resulted in 496 arrests. It involved extra officers and deputies on patrols and checkpoints during the holiday period,
There were four collisions resulting in injury or death in San Diego County on New Year’s Day, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Statewide, the CHP said its officers made 1,252 DUI arrests during the New Year’s period, up from 986 last year. This year statewide there was a total of 30 persons who died in crashes, up from 19 last year. In nine of this year’s deaths, the victim was not wearing a seat belt.
Source
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Holiday DUI count shoots up
The number of drunken drivers arrested in the first 30 hours of the New Year’s holiday weekend shot up both in San Diego and across the state when compared to last year, a California Highway Patrol officer said Saturday.
From 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight today, CHP officers arrested 64 DUI suspects in San Diego, compared to just 47 last year, Officer Larry Landeros said.
Statewide, the number of arrests is 898, compared to 688 during the 2008- 09 holiday period, the officer said.
There were two fatalities in San Diego County — a pregnant woman killed by an alleged drunken driver who collided with her broken-down vehicle on the 805 freeway in San Diego, and a woman struck by a car in Chula Vista — compared to one last year, Landeros said.
He said the number of fatalities statewide was 12, compared to 16 last year. The figure for fatalities includes all law enforcement jurisdictions in the state, while the DUI arrests are only those made by CHP officers.
Source
From 6 p.m. Thursday to midnight today, CHP officers arrested 64 DUI suspects in San Diego, compared to just 47 last year, Officer Larry Landeros said.
Statewide, the number of arrests is 898, compared to 688 during the 2008- 09 holiday period, the officer said.
There were two fatalities in San Diego County — a pregnant woman killed by an alleged drunken driver who collided with her broken-down vehicle on the 805 freeway in San Diego, and a woman struck by a car in Chula Vista — compared to one last year, Landeros said.
He said the number of fatalities statewide was 12, compared to 16 last year. The figure for fatalities includes all law enforcement jurisdictions in the state, while the DUI arrests are only those made by CHP officers.
Source
Legal Ease- Changes to DUI law
This year, 2010, brings a startling change to people arrested for DUI in San Diego County. Gone are the days where an arrest merely placed you in a holding cell for six to eight hours and released thereafter without more. No more, say the policy makers of San Diego. San Diego County, one of the first counties in California to follow this drastic change, is implementing a new policy, more stringent, more complicated, and it affects all DUI offenders, even if it is their first-time!
As of January 1, 2010, if you find yourself arrested for DUI here in San Diego, you will be taken to the nearest incarceration facility, fingerprinted, stripped, and now held until bail is posted. For now, San Diego County has rid itself of the “drunk-tank.” Instead, San Diego DUI arrestees, who remember are constitutionally innocent until proven guilty, are NOW required to post bail before they can be released, taking up a county bed somewhere. No more sobering up period in a room full of other minor offenders. No more minor incarceration, period.
Not surprisingly, this policy shift is right in line with many views being touted everywhere from policy makers across this state. For instance, starting July 1, 2010, the law will require all second and third time DUI offenders to install an inter-lock device just to receive a restricted license from DMV. Another example came from the California legislature recently, calling this year, 2010, the “Year of the Checkpoint,” promising to increase funding by 3 million dollars to fund state and local law enforcement agencies, increasing the number of DUI checkpoints.
With over 215,000 DUI arrests in California alone last year, and with our jail system being already overcrowded, a question begs itself: where are these arrestees going to be held if they cannot post bail - especially in this economic recession? This problem reminds me of the current situation caused by similar policies implemented in Riverside County beginning in 2007. Riverside County implemented a similar approach, requiring bail on nearly all minor offenses, and the county jails quickly became overcrowded.
Because the federal government requires incarceration facilities to maintain certain crowd control measures and hospitality minimums, the jails started to “fed-kick” people from jail to comply with these standards. That is, people were released from jail to make room for the new arrestees. That meant, in essence, even felony prisoners serving a 90 day sentence might be “fed-kicked” early just to make room for a new DUI arrestee, a person yet to be proven guilty. This policy only frustrated law enforcements efforts.
Obviously, such policy shifts come with consequences not only to the DUI arrestees, but also to the tax-payers of this county. San Diegans should not be subjected to a scenario similar to what is happening in Riverside County. Counties have limited resources, and with laws tightening everywhere against driving while intoxicated, shouldn’t the jail be a place left for people needing to be removed from society for substantial periods of time? Why target a DUI arrestee when a convicted felon could be released because some government standard hasn’t been met? I have seen this happen numerous times in Riverside County, I am not kidding. Let us not bring that problem here to San Diego.
Source
As of January 1, 2010, if you find yourself arrested for DUI here in San Diego, you will be taken to the nearest incarceration facility, fingerprinted, stripped, and now held until bail is posted. For now, San Diego County has rid itself of the “drunk-tank.” Instead, San Diego DUI arrestees, who remember are constitutionally innocent until proven guilty, are NOW required to post bail before they can be released, taking up a county bed somewhere. No more sobering up period in a room full of other minor offenders. No more minor incarceration, period.
Not surprisingly, this policy shift is right in line with many views being touted everywhere from policy makers across this state. For instance, starting July 1, 2010, the law will require all second and third time DUI offenders to install an inter-lock device just to receive a restricted license from DMV. Another example came from the California legislature recently, calling this year, 2010, the “Year of the Checkpoint,” promising to increase funding by 3 million dollars to fund state and local law enforcement agencies, increasing the number of DUI checkpoints.
With over 215,000 DUI arrests in California alone last year, and with our jail system being already overcrowded, a question begs itself: where are these arrestees going to be held if they cannot post bail - especially in this economic recession? This problem reminds me of the current situation caused by similar policies implemented in Riverside County beginning in 2007. Riverside County implemented a similar approach, requiring bail on nearly all minor offenses, and the county jails quickly became overcrowded.
Because the federal government requires incarceration facilities to maintain certain crowd control measures and hospitality minimums, the jails started to “fed-kick” people from jail to comply with these standards. That is, people were released from jail to make room for the new arrestees. That meant, in essence, even felony prisoners serving a 90 day sentence might be “fed-kicked” early just to make room for a new DUI arrestee, a person yet to be proven guilty. This policy only frustrated law enforcements efforts.
Obviously, such policy shifts come with consequences not only to the DUI arrestees, but also to the tax-payers of this county. San Diegans should not be subjected to a scenario similar to what is happening in Riverside County. Counties have limited resources, and with laws tightening everywhere against driving while intoxicated, shouldn’t the jail be a place left for people needing to be removed from society for substantial periods of time? Why target a DUI arrestee when a convicted felon could be released because some government standard hasn’t been met? I have seen this happen numerous times in Riverside County, I am not kidding. Let us not bring that problem here to San Diego.
Source
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