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Silver Spring, Md. -- A state delegate who wanted special license plates issued to repeat DUI offenders has been charged with driving under the influence himself. A Montgomery County police officer found Herman Taylor, Jr. (D-Montgomery) asleep behind the wheel of his Cadillac Escalade SUV in the parking lot of a 7-11 on May 1. Taylor, who represents the northern and eastern areas of Montgomery County, is scheduled to be tried next month. According to the Washington Post, Officer Peter Johnson filed a police report saying he saw Taylor drive into the parking lot. Eventually, Johnson approached the vehicle, engine...

Traffic stop leads to arrest in pot-growing operation Thursday, September 25, 2008 3:17 PM By Josh Jarman The Columbus Dispatch ZANESVILLE, Ohio -- A traffic stop on a remote Perry County road Sunday was the break investigators were looking for in an ongoing case of suspected Mexican pot growers running large-scale operations across the state. The arrest of seven Mexican nationals by the Perry County sheriff led to the discovery of one of the largest marijuana crops in Ohio history, and is the latest example of a new kind of drug growing operation in the state where growers live in...

Texting behind the wheel impairs driving skills more than being drunk or high on drugs, according to new research. Reaction times deteriorated by over one-third, which was worse than alcohol at the legal limit or driving under the influence of cannabis.

Private companies in the US are hoping to use red light cameras and speed cameras as the basis for a nationwide surveillance network similar to one that will be active next year in the UK. Redflex and American Traffic Solutions (ATS), the top two photo enforcement providers in the US, are quietly shopping new motorist tracking options to prospective state and local government clients.... The technology would be integrated with the Australian company's existing red light camera and speed camera systems. It allows officials to keep full video records of passing motorists and their passengers, limited only by available hard...

Retired Sutter County Judge Timothy J. Evans' second drunken driving sentence is the same as the first — doing pro bono legal work instead of occupying a jail cell. Evans, 65, reported as ordered Friday to the Sutter County Jail and signed up for a work-release program. He must work eight eight-hour days for the California Rural Legal Assistance office in Marysville and will spend nights at home, not at the jail, said Sheriff J. Paul Parker. A judge sentenced Evans to 12 days. Serving two-thirds of the sentence, or eight days, is standard practice, Parker said. After his first...

Patrol fires 12 troopers in cheating case Thursday, September 11, 2008 3:21 AM FROM THE (CANTON) REPOSITORY CANTON -- Twelve officers accused of cheating on a certification test for a device used to gather evidence against intoxicated drivers have been fired from the State Highway Patrol. Patrol spokesman Lt. Tony Bradshaw said it's the first time in the law-enforcement agency's 75-year history that so many officers have been let go at once. The patrol said the three sergeants and eight troopers from the Canton post and one Wooster trooper cheated on a certification exam for administering breath tests to determine...

A car driven by a drunk driving suspect with four previous DWI arrests raced away from a sheriff's deputy, ran a red light then went airborne after a wreck and landed on top of an SUV, killing a newlywed couple inside, authorities said. Second-grade teacher Erika Clouet, 24, and her husband of a little over a month, construction worker and aspiring musician German Clouet, 23, of Irving, were killed in the accident early Monday. The driver, Uriel Perez Palacios, 22, of Dallas, remained in the hospital Tuesday. His passenger had to be cut from the vehicle and was also hospitalized....

"Sources close to Sarah Palin tell The Brody File that the husband of the GOP Vice-presidential choice, Todd Palin, was arrested and charged with Driving under the Influence of alcohol back in 1986. He was 22 years old at the time. He was driving in a truck with some friends in the small southwestern Alaska town of Dillingham when he was pulled over for the DUI. As is customary, he was taken to jail briefly. Sarah and Todd Palin were high school sweethearts so they were dating at the time......

Meet the Buzz-Kill Pill Eric Bland, Discovery News Aug. 11, 2008 -- A new pill stops the euphoric effects of alcohol, but it won't prevent a hangover the next day. By blocking a key receptor involved in stress, scientists at Oregon Health and Science University are testing a drug that stops the happy feelings brought on by a drink of alcohol. Scientists say the drug could stop not only alcoholics from relapsing, but it could also stop pleasurable feelings gained from cocaine and even food. "This drug has great potential to treat not only alcoholism, but other stress-related disorders as...

VAN NUYS - On a recent stakeout, LAPD Officers David Hopkins and Steve Johnson slink down low in their unmarked car, ready to bust the type of criminal known to kill 16,000 people every year. Ordered by a judge not to drive, the man under their surveillance pulls up to his house, driving his father's car. Alcohol hangs on his breath. Eric Bernardo Davila is no murderer, rapist or terrorist. But with his growing arrest record, he's almost as dangerous. He's a habitual drunk driver - three DUIs and just 31 years old. And he's one of thousands of chronic...

State police say they arrested a man early Tuesday whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent — the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn't dead.

Alleged DUI killer's MySpace profile depicts youth consumed with money, drugs and graffiti THE PICTURES on Joseph Genovese Jr.'s MySpace page speak a thousand words, and the words on the page paint a disturbing picture of a teen so full of hubris that he used his mugshot as his profile picture. Even in the wake of being charged with homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence for allegedly killing one pedestrian tourist and injuring another last week, 18-year-old Genovese had kept his MySpace profile public - a profile in which he brags of his exploits with pot, alcohol, graffiti...

If you’re not a convicted drunk driver, should you still be required to have an in-car breathalyzer fitted (at your expense, ‘natch) to your next new vehicle? Apparently, some automakers — including GM and Toyota — think so. They and a few others are working together under the auspices of something called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, which is a $10 million federal “research program” that is trying to develop just such technology for mass introduction a few years from now. At the moment, the only people who have to deal with (and pay for) in-car Breathalyzers are...

Marcus Vick was charged with driving under the influence and related traffic charges after fleeing from a bicycle officer early today in Norfolk, police said. Vick, 24, of Suffolk, is the brother of former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. Marcus VIck was released by the Miami Dolphins in 2007. According to Officer Chris Amos, police spokesman, a bicycle officer approached a couple arguing in a car in the 200 block of Granby Street around 2 a.m. Friday.When the officer asked for the man's identification the car took off at high speed, Amos said. A few minutes later another officer spotted the car and...

Heather Squires was the designated driver. Never exactly a fun thing, but a college buddy of her husband's was driving up from Tucson to celebrate his acceptance into law school. So when her husband, Jason, asked, Heather said yes. It's not safe to be the designated driver these days, either. At Chuy's in Tempe, Heather's brother and her husband and the soon-to-be-law-school student knocked off four pitchers of beer. Everybody was having a great time. Around 9:30 p.m., they decided to head home. So they piled into Jason Squires' new pickup truck. As planned, Heather drove. They didn't get very...

BY ALFONSO A. CASTILLO | alfonso.castillo@newsday.com May 28, 2008 Standing before a backdrop of mug shots of 81 men and women arrested for driving while intoxicated over Memorial Day weekend, Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi billed the display as "The Wall of Shame." But several of the wall's members said Wednesday that the only thing shameful was Suozzi's attempt to publicly humiliate them, their families, and potentially cost them their livelihood before they get their day in court.

The businessman was meeting with clients for lunch at Mimi's Café when he noticed the woman. Sitting a few tables over with her 4-year-old boy, she seemed groggy — yet she was drinking a mimosa. It got worse. The woman ordered a glass of white wine, then another. She was so out of it, the businessman would later write in a statement to police, that she looked ready to fall asleep at the table. When the woman paid her bill and left the restaurant, the businessman was right behind her, cell phone in hand. When she ran a stop sign...

Anyone who refuses to submit to a blood-alcohol breath test this weekend will be required to have his or her blood drawn, authorities said Tuesday in reminding residents of a new program scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Friday. District Attorney Susan Reed said the ‘No Refusal Accepted' program is scheduled to continue through 7 a.m. Tuesday. A registered nurse will be on duty both at the San Antonio magistrate's office and the detention center to draw blood from anyone arrested on suspicion of drunken driving who refused at the scene to take a breath test. Prosecutors will assist with...

If Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) is unable to reach a deal with prosecutors on his DUI arrest, he will likely have to serve five days in jail before the end of the year, making him only the fourth sitting member of Congress to be locked up following a criminal conviction and dragging his troubles back into the spotlight just as Republicans were counting on them having vanished. Not since Rep. John Dowdy (D-Texas) was sent to prison for his 1972 conviction for bribery, obstruction of justice and perjury has a sitting member of the House been sentenced to jail or...

Sometime soon, drunken driving suspects in Kane County will have a new choice: Get your blood-alcohol level measured in a breath, blood or urine test, or have your blood drawn involuntarily. On No Refusal Weekend the option of refusing to take a test will not be available. At least not to drivers arrested by St. Charles, Batavia and Geneva police and Kane County sheriff's deputies. Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti announced the proposal Wednesday. He refused to say what weekend the program will be instituted. The idea was brought to his attention by First Assistant State's Attorney Clint Hull,...

GEORGETOWN, Texas (AP/KXAN) -- A state lawmaker who helped pave the way for major toll road projects and stiffer drunken driving penalties now faces a DWI charge. Rep. Mike Krusee of Williamson County is the Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee. He was charged with first-offense driving while intoxicated after a state trooper noticed his car moving erratically in northwest Austin Wednesday night. The license plate on the vehicle also had expired last December. Elected state officials all have personalized license plates. Therefore, the trooper would have known he was pulling over a state official before asking for identification....

Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-N.Y.) was arrested overnight in Alexandria and charged with driving while intoxicated, court records showed today. Fossella is scheduled to appear in Alexandria General District Court on May 12 for an advisement hearing, the records said. No other details were immediately available. Reached by phone, Fossella's communication director had no immediate comment on the report. Fossella was elected to Congress in a special election to represent the 13th Congressional District of New York in November 1997, according to a biography on his Web site. The district includes Staten Island and the Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, and...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled today that convictions for drunken driving do not count as violent felonies for enhancing prison sentences. The justices, by a 6-3 vote, said that even though great harm can result from drunken driving, it is different from other crimes that involve purposeful action. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote the majority opinion. Larry Begay had three felony convictions for drunken driving in New Mexico. He pleaded guilty to possessing a gun, which is illegal after having been convicted of a felony. The Armed Career Criminal Act makes defendants eligible for longer prison terms if they have...

Former Minnesota Vikings great Carl Eller was jailed Wednesday after allegedly fighting with police after being stopped for possible drunken driving. Eller was held on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, fleeing police and assaulting a police officer ----------------------------------------------- Police used a Taser, but Martin said it had no effect and called for backup.

MOUNT CLEMENS, Mich. (AP) - The Macomb County sheriff has ordered that all suspected drunken drivers stopped by his deputies face a blood test.

ORANGEBURG, SC (AP) - A Midlands police chief was arrested for falling asleep at the wheel at a traffic light. It happened in Orangeburg County. In 2005, Kenneth McCaster was an Orangeburg County deputy. He got shot in the arm while on patrol. McCaster spoke about the suspect in court. "It was just tough to see him stand there and almost kind of pretend that it's someone else's fault." McCaster became Santee's police chief last December. Now he's the one blamed for something. The highway patrol says a trooper drove up to the intersection of Highway 601 and Russell Street...

An off-duty Milwaukee County sheriff's deputy arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early Tuesday pleaded with Hales Corners police to let him continue driving home, saying, "You can't do this to one of your own," the incident report says. Sheriff's Deputy Christopher P. Conell, a 12-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was pulled over by a Hales Corners police officer about 12:50 a.m. at W. Grange Ave. and S. 110th St. after the officer observed Conell's car drift across the center line on W. Grange Ave. three times, according to the incident report. Conell, 34, failed multiple field sobriety tests...

Bill on tap to dry up ALL drinking, driving By Laurel J. Sweet and Mike Underwood Monday, March 17, 2008 - Updated 10m ago EmailE-mail PrintablePrintable Comments(89) Comments LargerSmallerText size ShareShare Rate(5) Rate A Taunton state representative wants to make Massachusetts the first state to declare driving under the influence of alcohol - even one green beer - flat out illegal. Rep. James Fagan’s legislation would slash the current .08 blood-alcohol limit recognized nationwide as the standard for being legally drunk to .02. Federal government research indicates a 160- to 240-pound man would register .02 sipping one glass of wine...

Tamara Mitchell-Ford, who is serving a drunken driving jail sentence in Collierville, was indicted Thursday on two more drunken-driving cases. The 43-year-old ex-wife of former state senator John Ford picked up the cases before she was ordered in November to begin serving 11 months and 27 days for violating her probation on a DUI case from February of last year. In anticipation of the indictments, her attorney, Juni Ganguli, said recently a tentative plea agreement with prosecutors called for Mitchell-Ford to plead guilty to both new DUIs and to be given concurrent sentences of 11 months and 29 days in...

BOSTON - A federal bankruptcy judge was arrested for driving drunk last week, but perhaps the most shocking part about the ordeal was that he was wearing women's clothing at the time. Robert Somma, 63, was arrested on Feb. 6 after his Mercedes-Benz hit a pickup truck on a Massachusetts road. When authorities removed him from the vehicle, they said he wore a black women's cocktail dress, fishnet stockings and high heels. Wednesday, Somma struck a plea deal with prosecutors in which he pleaded 'no contest' to a misdemeanor DUI charge and agreed to pay roughly $600 in penalties. He...

TMZ has learned the L.A. District Attorney is charging Mischa Barton with four misdemeanor counts: driving under the influence, driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or higher, driving without a license and possession of marijuana (under an ounce) -- all stemming from her December 27 arrest.

Program officials said the executive director of a nonprofit agency that gives classes to DUI offenders has been suspended after the Palm City woman received a DUI herself. Margot Cioffi has been suspended from her job as executive director of the Comprehensive Offender Rehabilitation and Education program. The program, which operates in Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee counties, will continue. According to a deputy's report, Cioffi was arrested in Palm City on Monday night. She's facing charges of DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of an accident with property damage, resisting arrest without violence and disorderly intoxication....

RAISO, Ind. - A woman who pleaded guilty to a drunken driving crash that seriously injured a man won't have to look far for a reminder of that crash once she gets out of jail. The judge who sentenced Stephanie Pochron, 30, of Wanatah to six months in jail Tuesday also ordered that her wrecked car remain in her front yard until she completes three years of probation. Porter Superior Court Judge David Chidester said he had Pochron's totaled car towed there to serve as a reminder of the problems she caused in the July 9 crash that seriously injured...

Finally, common sense prevails in dealing with the state's laws on driving under the influence of liquor and drugs. A bill steeped in election-year, get-tough-on-crime grandstanding has quietly gone to the burial ground for bad bills in the state Legislature. It failed to make it out of the Senate Transportation Committee before Tuesday's deadline. Senate Bill 6402 would have required people convicted of a DUI infraction to put fluorescent-yellow license plates on their cars for one year after having their driving privileges restored. Who knows why overreaching bills even get a hearing in Olympia, as this one did last week...

His arraignment had been scheduled for Thursday, but his lawyer, retired Hudson police Capt. Ray Mello, asked last week to waive the hearing. Judge James Leary agreed, and the court set a trial date of Feb. 21.

SMITHVILLE, Tenn. — State Rep. Rob Briley of Nashville has pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and property damage prior to leading authorities on a high-speed chase last September. Briley, who has already been sentenced to 10 days in jail on separate charges of drunken driving, waived his right to a trial by jury Thursday morning in DeKalb County. Authorities said he struck the rear of a truck and then left the scene. No one was injured. Prosecutors dropped charges of following too closely and non immediate notification of an accident. Police records show Briley was arrested...

Officer admits to drunken driving By TOM HOWELL JR. thowell@njherald.com NEWTON — A Wayne police officer avoided criminal prosecution Tuesday by admitting he was drunk when he drove into two Sparta police cars on Route 15 two months ago. Fifteen-year Patrolman Alex-ander Sanagorksi, 38, of Sparta, caused minor injuries to Sparta Sgt. John Lamon and Patrolman Scott Elig when his Ford Explorer veered off the northbound lane and into the median at 2:28 a.m. on Nov. 17, according to police. The officers had been looking for the Explorer based on reports from Jefferson police about a possibly intoxicated driver. There...

GLENDALE, Calif. Kiefer Sutherland has been released from jail after serving 48 days on a drunken driving charge, according to a published report. A jail spokesman did not immediately return a phone call seeking confirmation of a story on People magazine's Web site saying the 41-year-old actor walked out of jail at 12:05 a.m. Monday, hours earlier than had been expected. But People quoted police Officer John Balian as saying, "(Kiefer) looked like he was glad to be out," and that Sutherland was wearing a shirt and jeans when he left the facility. Sutherland - the star of Fox television's...

November 28, 2007 -- THE publisher of Sen. Ted Kennedy's autobiography won't likely recoup his $8.5 million advance unless the 75-year-old Democrat finally tells what really happened in 1969 at Chappaquiddick, where Kennedy's car went off a bridge, drowning campaign worker Mary Jo Kopechne. But Jonathan Karp, head of the Twelve imprint at Hachette Book Group USA, isn't worried. Karp told Page Six yesterday, "When we met with Sen. Kennedy, he assured us he would be candid." Kennedy, who didn't report the Martha's Vineyard crash to police for many hours, eventually pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident...

Could a description of Mary Jo Kopechne's death in a car accident possibly not mention Ted Kennedy till five paragraphs later? Yes. That's how the Times Leader, the Wilkes Barre, PA based newspaper reported the passing away at age 89 of Mary Kopechne's mother Gwen, a local resident. Here's the opening paragraph [emphasis added]: A mother who lost her daughter in a well-publicized automobile accident in Massachusetts nearly 39 years ago was remembered Saturday as a caring woman who loved talking, drinking coffee and making pancakes for breakfast.

A senior adviser to Hillary Clinton was arrested in Nashua, N.H., on charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated the day before the Jan. 8 primary, according to an article Saturday in the Nashua Telegraph. The Telegraph reported that Sidney Blumenthal was given a field sobriety test by a Nashua officer who pulled him over for going 40 miles over the 30-mph speed limit at about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 7. The officer reportedly smelled alcohol and arrested Blumenthal following the sobriety test. He refused to take a breath test.

NASHUA – A top Clinton adviser faces charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated after city police caught him speeding through Greeley Park a day before the state primary. Sidney Blumenthal, longtime friend and senior adviser to presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. was allegedly driving a rented car north on Concord Street at a speed of 70 mph when Nashua Police Sgt. Mike Masella decided to stop it at about 12:30 a.m. Monday. -snip- Blumenthal was arrested after completing the test and taken to the police department where he refused to take a breath test and was booked on...

An apparent drunken driver smashed into several parked cars downtown Friday evening, causing chain-reaction accidents that resulted in damage to six vehicles. According to Juneau police, Karl Gallow, 22, was driving a 1990 Ford pickup truck at about 9:20 p.m. Friday when he struck a driver in a 1999 Jeep. The driver of the Jeep called police, then followed Gallow, who proceeded to 12th Street and hit several parked cars, police said. . . ..

In Fairbanks, Alaska, it's illegal to serve liquor to a moose. By contrast, in Ohio it's legal to serve booze to a fish, but not if you get it drunk. Ever since the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol laws in this country have been a bit nutty. Take the business of bars. Some states mandate sitting, while others require standing at the bar to drink. Texans may take up to but not more than three sips of beer while standing. Some jurisdictions require the interior of public drinking establishments to be visible from the street; others specifically prohibit that. In Iowa...

Five members of a Maryland family died late yesterday when their minivan was hit head-on by a pickup truck going the wrong way on a Toledo, Ohio-area interstate, according to the Toledo Blade. Bethany Griffin, 36, and Jordan Griffin, 10, of Parkville, Md., to the northeast of Baltimore, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, police sources told the Blade. Lacie and Haley Burkman are from Redford, Mich., according to the Associated Press. Six-month-old Vadi Griffin was pronounced dead after being taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Danny Griffin, 36, of...

Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon was arrested early Friday morning for investigation of DUI and driving with a suspended license -- his second alcohol-related arrest in King County this year. Moon, who was the 1978 Rose Bowl MVP while at the University of Washington, was driving on state Route 520 about 2:10 a.m. when he was stopped by Medina police.

TMZ has confirmed that Mischa Barton has been arrested on suspicion of DUI, possession of narcotics and driving on a suspended license.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Some gifts from Kris Kringle are better kept wrapped. A man in a Santa hat was arrested Sunday night for investigation of drunken driving after he was spotted outside Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood wearing a wig, a red lace camisole and a purple G-string, police said. ... The suspect was booked into jail after his blood-alcohol level measured just above the state's legal limit of .08, police said. He was later released on $5,000 bail. The man, who is 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 280 pounds, also wore black leg warmers and...

ATLANTA -- Rescuers pulled a driver from inside a car as it dangled Wednesday night seven stories above the streets of Buckhead. Thin cables held the car off the side of a parking deck after it smashed through the fencing at the edge of the facility at the Realm condominiums in the 3300 block of Peachtree Road. Firefighters reached the car by rapelling down from the deck's top floor, one story above the dangling vehicle. Held in place upside down, a rescuer reached into an open window of the car and slipped a safety harness on the driver. Then they...

AUSTIN — A new state program will allow friends and family of deceased victims of drunken driving accidents in Texas to purchase memorial signs that will be placed near the crash site for a year. The signs will have the victim's name, date of the crash and the phrases "Please Don't Drink and Drive" and "In Memory of." According to the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas had more than 1,670 fatalities in 2006 that involved drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The $300 signs will be 42 inches high and 48 inches wide with a blue background and...