Nevada DUI Information

Motley Crue Singer Sentenced to Jail for DUI in Nevada

Vince Neil was arrested for drunk driving in Las Vegas last summer

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Call from Former Madam Leads to Nevada DUI Arrest of County District Attorney

DA found drunk in vehicle outside Heidi Fleiss' house

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Topless Woman Nabbed for Nevada DUI

Suspect entered store half naked and took a bottle of wine

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Police Checkpoint Leads to Arrests for DUI in Las Vegas

Weekend effort targets drunk driving in Southern Nevada along Vegas Strip.

Law enforcement agencies in Southern Nevada combined for a crackdown on drunk driving in Las Vegas. The Nevada State Patrol and the Las Vegas Police Department set up an eight-hour sobriety checkpoint just west of the Las Vegas Strip. More than 4,700 vehicles were checked, and 11 motorists were charged with driving under the influence in Nevada.

The checkpoint was conducted between 7:00 pm Saturday and 3:00 am Sunday near the intersection of Sahara Avenue and Valley View Boulevard. The effort was funded in part by a grant from the Nevada Department of Public Safety and was coordinated through the National Highway Safety Administration.

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Reno Police Given Devices to Test for Nevada DUI

14 portable breath testing devices will be used to combat drunk driving in Reno area.

The Northern Nevada DUI Task Force has donated 14 breath testing devices to the Reno Police Department for use in checking suspected drunk drivers. The handheld devices will provide a preliminary breath test result to determine if further investigation for driving under the influence in Nevada is warranted.

The units costs about $4000 each and they will allow officers to quickly test blood alcohol content of those suspected of drunk driving. Previously, investigators had to wait for a specially equipped patrol car with breath testing equipment to arrive on a NV DUI scene.

According to statistics from the Reno police department, the number of Nevada DUI arrests in the area was down 9.5% in 2008. Accidents related to being under the influence of alcohol or drugs dropped 11.6%. The reductions are attributed to increased awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving as well as DUI enforcement activities.

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Number of Nevada DUI Fatalities Down in Clark County

Nevada sees one of largest reductions of traffic related deaths in the nation.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released statistics showing that highway deaths dropped 3.9% across the country in 2007. The state of Nevada realized a 13% drop, from 431 to 371, making it sixth best in the nation for reducing overall traffic fatalities. More than half of the drop in total numbers came from Clark County.

The number of fatal accidents involving alcohol also dropped in Nevada; by 8%. Approximately one-third of all highway deaths in Clark County were attributable to drunk driving in the Las Vegas area.

Through the Labor Day weekend, state law enforcement agencies will be conducting a campaign titled ‘Over the Limit, Under Arrest’ targeting Nevada DUI offenses. In addition to law enforcement, public awareness campaigns have helped reduce the incidents of driving under the influence in Nevada. One such effort called ‘Every 15 Minutes’ has been successful in dramatically reducing high school student highway deaths involving drinking and driving in Clark County.

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Woman Benefits from New Nevada DUI Law

Entering substance abuse program helps her avoid a prison term

Lisa Beth Thomas of South Lake Tahoe recently pleaded guilty to Nevada DUI. As it was her third drunk driving conviction she would have been sentenced to a minimum of one year in prison. Due to a new law passed in July, however, Thomas was given the option of seeking help with her alcohol dependence instead of being incarcerated.

Under the new legislation Thomas, 45, had her sentence deferred for five years while she demonstrates compliance with conditions for her probation. She agreed to enter substance abuse treatment for five years and six months of house arrest. She is also subject to random searches for drugs and alcohol and she must install an ignition interlock device in all vehicles she operates. Thomas is responsible for paying for the probation conditions and any violation could land her in prison.

The law allows prosecutors to question a defendant’s entrance to the special program. In Thomas’ case the district attorney's office agreed to the treatment. Thomas has said she is grateful for the opportunity.

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Nevada Assembly Passes Bill That Requires Stay in Jail for DUI

Those arrested for Nevada DUI will be held until sober before being able to post bail.

The Nevada Assembly recently passed legislation requiring people arrested for Nevada DUI to stay in jail 12 hours so their blood-alcohol content drops below the legal limit.

The author of the bill, Mark Manendo, said the intent is to keep people from leaving jail and endangering others while still intoxicated. He cited examples of people being released within hours of a DUI arrest who still had a BAC over twice the legal limit.

Though the legal limit for drunk driving in Nevada is .08, Manendo’s proposal calls for holding DUI offenders in jail until their BAC reaches .04.

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Reno Man With 7 Priors Dodges 8th!

Police Arrest Man with Seven Priors

March 27, 1998

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A Reno man police say has seven drunken driving arrests has dodged No. 8, but still faces a raft of other charges.

Joseph Donald Clichi, 48, was being watched by officers under funding provided by the repeat DUI offender grant.

He left his house for work Friday morning, stopping on the way to pick up a six-pack. By the time police could pull him over, officers say he was pretty well finished with his first beer of the day.

A preliminary breath test put his blood alcohol at 0.05 percent, half the 0.1 percent at which a person is presumed to be under the influence in Nevada.

But he faces charges of driving on a revoked license, possession of an open container, possession of marijuana and possession of paraphernalia. He was being held under $2,570 bail.

Police say he was arrested for DUI twice in the 1970s, three times in the '80s and twice in the 1990s.

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Nevada City's Ban

Gold Country Town Bans Boozing in Street

NEVADA CITY (AP) -- As he strolled this historic gold-mining town in a steady downpour, Ike Frazee, a 25-year-old pastry chef with a black beret and a long goatee, bemoaned the ebbing of a hallowed tradition.

"Drinking on the street? Hell, yes! This is the only place I could do it,'' Frazee said. "It added a lot of character to the town.''

Ending a mining-town convention that endured for generations, Nevada City officials recently voted to ban public drinking on the city's downtown streets and sidewalks.

On New Year's Eve, revelers had one of their last chances to roam through the Sierra Nevada foothills town toting open containers of alcoholic beverages before the new law goes into effect Monday.

In reality, the Nevada City Council action -- giving police authority to issue citations and roust people for drinking -- brings the town into conformance with other cities that ban drinking on downtown streets, sidewalks, parking lots and alleys.

But in Nevada City, whose council over the years rejected several attempts to ban drinking in public, this was no casual action.

While some merchants and council members complained that a handful of people on sidewalks nursing bottles of beer and wine were a nuisance to the tourist town, others bemoaned the loss of a drinker's right.

"There is 140 years of tradition in town of drinking on the streets and that should not be thrown away for people who have socially unacceptable behavior,'' protested Tom Coleman, owner of the town's 144-year-old National Hotel.

After the council voted 4-1 to enact the drinking ban, Coleman said the matter should have been put to a citywide vote.

"Basically, the majority is suffering because of a minority,'' Coleman said, "and I don't want to see the erosion of another right.''

But council member Sharon Tobiassen, who pushed for the vote after city workers signed petitions complaining about inebriated people hanging out downtown, said the step was needed to halt a budding "skid row atmosphere."

She said nostalgia for Nevada City's mining days is a poor excuse for allowing open-air drinking downtown.

"When you see people openly drinking and defying all authority, I say, `Let's move into the 21st century,' '' Tobiassen said. "Some years ago, we banned lynching and dueling on the streets, another carryover from the Old West. We no longer need to live in that mode.''

The new law won't affect Nevada City's restaurants and bars, which will continue to serve alcohol. Under state beverage control laws, patrons have never been allowed to take drinks outside such establishments.

But the downtown drinking crackdown is bitter ale for residents such as Dee "Little Zappa'' Myers, 28, who said he's enjoyed his right to trudge through town swigging from a bottle of beer.

"Perhaps there's pressure from community leaders to gentrify the town, "Myers said. "Crusty old folks have been drinking here for years. What do they want us to do now? Drink `near beer' in back rooms?''

Under the new law, permits can be granted to allow open-air drinking during special events, such as the town's Victorian Christmas street festivals or its popular Fourth of July Constitution Day. But the law may be a death knell for the town's era as a drinkers' paradise.

As Nevada City was transformed over the years into a charming mecca of upscale boutiques, eateries and bed-and-breakfast inns, many trendy new businesses replaced old gin joints and hard-boozin' taverns.

"This used to be a working man's town,'' Coleman said. "The loggers, the truck drivers, the guys in Levis and suspenders don't come downtown anymore. If a guy with muddy boots walked into one of these yuppie places today, he'd feel very uncomfortable.''

Nevada City Mayor Harry Stewart said police have received increased complaints in recent months about individuals drinking and loitering downtown. He said he feared adults were providing booze to youths.

And as long as drinking in public was legal, Stewart said, police couldn't intervene until someone became intoxicated or disruptive.

"Nevada City is very strong on tradition, and one of the hardest things is change,'' Stewart said. "But I think people, down deep in their hearts, knew that the time had come.''

Published Wednesday, January 1, 1997, in the San Jose Mercury News

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