Booze It and Lose It: North Carolina Police to Target Drunk Drivers
Police in North Carolina will be spend June 29 through July 5 targeting drunk drivers. The Booze It and Lose It: Operation Firecracker campaign is an effort to decrease the number of driving accidents that occur around the 4th of July holiday.
Last year, there were 377 North Carolina drunk driving-related collisions for that week. 12 people died. As part of their efforts, police will increase patrols and set up checkpoints.
In Alexander and Iredell counties, there was a 20% increase in drunk driving accidents over a one-year period. Troopers increased their efforts to catch drunken drivers, and in just one week, 31 people were arrested for impaired driving.
Drunk Driving Facts
Although (according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving) there was a decrease in the number of North Carolina alcohol-related deaths—from 489 to 392—between 2007 and 2008, drunken driving accidents still happen in the state on a regular basis. Statesville Police Officer Adam Dillard tells the Mooresville Tribune, “impaired driving is not an accident,” and it is a crime that is not “victimless.”
Just this Monday, two members of the band Dr. Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys were hurt in a hit and run North Carolina car accident when a drunk driver that was speeding rear-ended the vehicle they were riding in. Their SUV ended up going down a three-story embankment into a creek while the other driver took off.
Fiddler Dewey Brown sustained minor injuries, but his pregnant wife Leslie and Dr. Ralph Stanley’s 16-year-old grandson Nathan, a mandolin player, sustained more serious injuries. Both of Nathan’s legs are broken and Leslie sustained shoulder injuries and broke her femur.
The driver accused of hit and run is 25-year-old Alejandro Perez Sosa. He was apprehended and charged with felony hit and run, reckless driving, speeding, and driving under the influence. At the time of his arrest, Perez’s blood alcohol content was 0.14. The legal BAC limit is .08%.
On June 18 in Durham, it was a North Carolina Highway Patrol Officer who was charged with drunk driving after he hit another car. Trooper John C. Fogg was off duty when police say he crashed a vehicle into another car on the Durham Freeway. His BAC was reportedly .17%.
NC Highway Patrol Officer Arrested For Drunk Driving, Raleigh Telegram, June 27, 2009
Patrols to target drunk drivers during holiday week, Mooresville Tribune, June 26, 2009
Members Of Ralph Stanley’s Band Rear-Ended By Drunk Driver In N.C., TriCities.com, June 24, 2009
Related Web Resources:
North Carolina State Highway Patrol, North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
Dr. Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys
