Sobriety Tests

Thirty people were arrested New Year's Eve and early New Year's Day at a sobriety checkpoint in North Hollywood, bringing the total number of drunk-driving arrests in the San Fernando Valley to 89 for the holiday, Los Angeles police said. No alcohol-related traffic accidents occurred in the Valley on New Year's Eve, police said. Officers at the checkpoint, set up at 9 p.m. New Year's Eve on Lankershim Boulevard, between Oxnard and Erwin streets, stopped 1,450 vehicles.

Accused drunk drivers now have more ammunition for challenging Breathalyzer findings as a result of a unanimous ruling Thursday by the California Supreme Court. The ruling is expected to make drunk-driving cases more complicated and possibly more difficult to prosecute, lawyers said. Courts in two other states, Arizona and Vermont, have reached similar conclusions.

Lady luck was not with Gustavo Gomez Garcia Sunday morning. He was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after he plowed into the side of the Garden Grove Police Department's sobriety checkpoint trailer. Sgt. Paul McInerny said two officers had just finished operating their sobriety checkpoint at 2:08 a.m. and were headed for the city yard in the 13800 block of Newhope Street to return the trailer, which is furnished with a table and chairs and is used to book suspects bound for jail.

A state appellate court on Tuesday approved a tough new penalty for convicted drunk drivers who do not submit to sobriety tests upon their arrest, ruling they can be jailed for at least 48 hours for refusing to take the test. The three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal unanimously rejected a constitutional challenge to a 1985 state law--believed by officials to be the first of its kind in the nation--mandating confinement for such drivers in addition to suspension of their licenses.

The next time a police officer shines a flashlight in your face and starts asking questions, your answers may be more revealing than you think. Some officers are now armed with law enforcement's hottest new weapon against drunk driving--the PAS III Sniffer, a hand-held alcohol-detection device concealed in a flashlight. Able to estimate blood-alcohol content based on just four seconds of conversation, the technology takes the standard police sniff test to a more objective--and exact--level.

Drivers under age 21 caught with even a slight amount of alcohol in their blood would have their license seized under a bill that has been sent to Gov. Pete Wilson. The bill, (SB 869) by Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco), would allow the seizure if sobriety tests showed a blood alcohol content of O.01 or higher. Under current state law, any driver is considered drunk if his blood alcohol content is 0.08 or higher. The level is set at 0.05 for drivers between ages 16 and 18.

Whenever the telephone rings, William Arias changes from a smiling, easygoing young man to darn near a nervous wreck. For several months, Arias has worn an electronic surveillance anklet while serving a jail sentence at home for drunk driving. That means authorities check on him several times a day and can call at any time. He takes the calls armed with a tall glass of water. He says his mouth gets dry just thinking about being taken back to jail before the anklet comes off in early December.

In a case that could affect the admissibility of DNA evidence in the O.J. Simpson trial, the California Supreme Court began deliberating Tuesday whether to give trial judges greater flexibility to allow scientific evidence at trial. The high court, hearing arguments in a Huntington Beach drunk-driving case, has been asked by California Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren to broaden the state's evidence rules to allow controversial DNA testing.

A sharply divided state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the constitutionality of police roadblocks to catch suspected drunk drivers, clearing the way for use of sobriety checkpoints during the holiday season. In a 4-3 decision, the justices rejected contentions by civil libertarians that motorists should be stopped only when there is an "individualized suspicion" that they are intoxicated.

At least he was honest about it: Javier was drunk. Under the harsh electric glow of a California Highway Patrol sergeant's flashlight, the bleary-eyed Boyle Heights resident blithely confessed that he had quaffed a six-pack of Budweiser before climbing into his Dodge Colt and driving the wrong way up a freeway off-ramp. Just a few hours into the long Labor Day weekend, Javier's holiday was over.