GRAND PRAIRIE —
Drunken drivers beware.
Law officers will be out in force
this holiday season and looking for such impaired drivers, officials
from Tarrant and Dallas counties said Wednesday.
Prosecutors,
police, deputies, medical personnel and politicians are all on the same
page, said Richard Alpert, Tarrant County assistant district attorney.
Those who get pulled over on suspicion of driving drunk will be taken
off the streets, they will have their blood drawn even if they refuse to
submit to a test, and they will be prosecuted, Alpert said.
Alpert
said he expects more than 150 drunken driving arrests in Tarrant County
during the holiday season. He said that if people really want to avoid
becoming a statistic, they can follow his example.
“I’m not on the
roads between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. during the holidays,” Alpert said at a
news conference in Grand Prairie. “I leave those roads to the police.”
Most
of the people officers expect to arrest are repeat offenders or will
have blood-alcohol levels nearly twice the legal limit, which is 0.08,
Alpert said.
Tarrant County Commisioner Andy Nguyen also cautioned
motorists to designate a sober driver or stay at home during the
holiday season.
“The holidays should be a time for rejoicing,” he said, “not for mourning.”
Grand
Prairie Police Chief Steve Dye said those who get caught drinking and
driving can expect to spend about $10,000 by the time they complete the
court process.
“We are all paying for it,” Dye said. “Drunk
driving costs an average insurance customer an additional $800 on their
yearly insurance premium.”
Jason Derscheied, executive director of
Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the period between Thanksgiving and
New Year’s Day is the most dangerous time for those trying to avoid
being involved in a collision with an impaired driver.
Near the
end of the news conference, Tonya Winchester pulled her wheelchair up to
the microphone and said a drunken driver cost her the use of much of
her body. Almost a decade ago she was drinking with friends and handed
her car keys to a friend who had been drinking but was confident he
could drive.
The friend ran a stop sign and an 18-wheeler crashed into her jeep at 40 mph, said Winchester, now 27.
“I
woke up two weeks later in a hospital unable to feel, speak or
breathe,” Winchester said. “I broke my neck and was told that I would be
paralyzed for the rest of my life.”
But that’s not what bothers her most, Winchester said.
“The
hardest part of my injury is having to watch the people I love suffer
through my decision with me,” she said. “Every decision we make has
meaning. My message is to encourage you to think before any decision you
make and be responsible.”
Mitch Mitchell, 817-390-7752 Twitter:
@mitchmitchel3 THANKS FOR SHARING MY STORY!
Read
more here:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/11/12/6283310/police-to-pay-special-attention.html?sp=/99/189/228/231/#storylink=cpy
Mitchell, Mitch. "Police to pay special attention to drunken drivers this holiday season."
Star Telegram: Crime And Safety. 13 November 2014. Web. 14 November 2014.
http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/11/12/6283310/police-to-pay-special-attention.html?sp=/99/189/228/231.
