May 2010 Archives

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department are cracking down on drunk drivers this holiday weekend with scheduled DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols. Law enforcers say that they're upset with the fact that Memorial Day has become an excuse of many people to drink irresponsibly, so this year the department plans on taking extra steps to reduce the amount of impaired drivers on the road.

LAPD officers are encouraging people to designate sober drivers and avoid driving drunk by setting up DUI checkpoints in Los Angeles and saturation patrols this weekend. Through a press release, LAPD has announced that they'll conduct the following enforcement activities this weekend.

• Friday May 28, 2010: DUI checkpoint in the Northeast Los Angeles area.
• Saturday May 29, 2010: DUI checkpoint in the North Hollywood area.
• Sunday May 30, 2010: DUI saturation patrol in the North Hollywood area.

The actress who played on Janet Wood on "Three's Company" is taking some accountability for her actions, as she has pleaded no contest to her driving under the influence charge through her Los Angeles DUI attorney.

E! Online reports that 61-year-old Joyce DeWitt was cited for drunk driving last year on the 4th of July, after she drove past a barricade near a park. El Segundo officers pulled her over and noticed signs of impairment. When administered a breath test, the retired actress blew a blood-alcohol level that was above the legal limit of .08 percent.

Is there going to be more drama for Lindsay Lohan, star of Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen?

Lindsay Lohan's name has been echoed throughout throughout the news and has been plastered all over the media tabloids. What trouble has the actress gotten herself into this time? She's having trouble following the terms of her probation that stems from her 2007 DUI conviction and faces jail time if she does not meet the terms of her probation.

The actress' DUI hearing today shows just how strict probation can be when multiple alcohol education classes are missed. The Los Angeles Times reports that Lindsay Lohan will now have to undergo random drug testing each week and that she must wear an alcohol-detection device, in addition to attending alcohol education classes each week.

Lindsay Lohan's Los Angeles DUI Attorney Shawn Chapman Holley is doing everything that she can do defend her client, including posting the $100,000 on behalf of the actress so that her arrest warrant can be lifted. But will Lindsay Lohan have a probation revocation?

The Vancouver Sun reports that Lindsay Lohan failed to show up for her mandatory court hearing on Thursday, which led Judge Marsha Revel to issue an arrest warrant for the actress. Lindsay Lohan was supposed to appear in court for a progress hearing on her probation. She has been in and out of court since her 2007 DUI conviction, where she was sentenced to three years of probation.

A 12-year-old girl from Los Angeles and her 21-year-old cousin were killed by a suspected drunk driver last Sunday, leaving one man to face a long list of drunk-driving related charges. The San Bernardino Sun reports that 21-year-old Alexander Deleon Velasco remains jailed at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga on $25,000 bail. Prosecutors have charged him with gross vehicular manslaughter, DUI causing injury and DUI over 0.08 percent alcohol causing injury.

Alexander Velasco has been accused of running a stop sign and hitting the other vehicle at an intersection in the city of Muscoy. The incident occurred at Mesa and Macy Streets when a pickup truck collided with a Kia Optima. The 12-year-old girl reportedly died at the scene, but the 21-year-old was not immediately killed. The man died in the hospital on Monday night after he was taken off life support. Because there were two deaths involved in the incident, the charges could be amended and enhanced.

Typically during a DUI checkpoint, no one sees an officer shot.

After driving through a DUI checkpoint in Santa Monica last night, one man might be facing more than just a misdemeanor driving under the influence charge. At the checkpoint, a gunman allegedly shot a Santa Monica police officer when he opened fire on the officers conducting the traffic stop.

Fox News reports that the suspect has not yet had his name released to the public and it's still not exactly clear of what charges the suspect will be facing. Though, it's likely that the suspect will need a Los Angeles DUI attorney for the best defense possible in court.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department are conducting a CA DUI checkpoint on Saturday in Southern Los Angeles. LAPD announced through a press release that the checkpoint will be taking place on Jefferson Boulevard between Western Avenue and Denker Avenue. The checkpoint is scheduled to last for five hours and will be going on from 6:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. The purpose of the CA DUI checkpoint is to reduce the number of traffic collisions involving intoxicated drivers in the Los Angeles area.

According to LAPD, the Southwest Division of Los Angeles has actually experienced a 23 percent decrease in Driving Under the Influence related traffic collisions year to date as compared to 2009. The effort is expected to deter drivers even more from choosing to drive after drinking. Approximately 10 traffic enforcement officers, six collision investigation officers and one traffic collision sergeant from South Traffic Division will be involved in the DUI checkpoint. 

Thomas Reed allegedly rear-ended a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff while traveling at 100 mph on the 91 freeway near Imperial Highway last February. Orange County prosecutors initially declined to file charges against Thomas Reed, saying that there was insufficient evidence of a crime. However, the Orange County Register reports that the case was resubmitted by the California Highway Patrol on April 19.

The suspect is now being charged with three misdemeanor counts of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with a blood-alcohol level more than .08 causing bodily injury, and hit-and-run with injuries. The 23-year-old man will likely need the help of a DUI attorney in Los Angeles or Orange County with the case, but this isn't Thomas Reed's first run-in with the law.

Thanks to Los Angeles DUI attorney Jack Earley, MTV's reality star Jason Wahler won't have to spend anymore time behind bars for drunk driving. The actor was charged with driving under the influence last March when a breath test revealed that he had a blood-alcohol level of .19 percent -- over twice the legal limit!

The Orange County Local News Network reported that Jason Wahler pleaded guilty to a DUI charge last week, but that prosecutors dismissed one other count of driving under the influence in exchange for his guilty plea. Orange County Superior Court Judge Brett London sentenced the man to three years' probation and two days in jail. But because Jason Wahler already has credit for timed served, he won't actually be spending anymore time in jail.

Actress Marley Shelton will probably need to contact a Los Angeles DUI attorney after her recent drunk driving arrest in Hollywood. DUIAttorney.com reports that police haven't released her exact breath test results to the public, but that she was arrested after a failed field sobriety test.

The 36-year-old Hollywood actress was pulled over at 10:30 p.m. When police suspected that the actress was impaired, she was taken into custody was able to post the $5,000 bail. A Los Angeles DUI attorney may try to argue that field sobriety tests are not good indicators that a person is drunk and that the validity of breath tests should be questioned as well. If a suspect's recorded blood-alcohol level is below the legal limit of .08 percent or if the recorded blood-alcohol level is around the cut off of .08, an attorney may even argue that the defendant wasn't legally drunk at the time of arrest.

Authorities with the Los Angeles Police Department say that Jacqueline Montalvo, an LAPD officer that died in an off-duty traffic collision last February, was drunk at the time of the crash.

The officer died when she swerved across a grass-and-concrete divider and collided with an oncoming vehicle near Rowland Heights. The Los Angeles Times reports that her collision also caused a chain reaction with two other vehicles.

It's been a tough year for Lindsay Lohan. First, she gets traumatized over an E*Trade ad, sues E*Trade, and now she is back in court. Except now, she is not in a courtroom in New York. This time, Ms. Lohan finds herself across the country in Los Angeles. 

The Lindsay Lohan LA court showdown this past Friday had centered around whether or not she violated the terms of her DUI probation.