Last Tuesday pop singer Eric Carmen was charged with driving under the influence in Orange, Ohio, east of Cleveland.

According to the arrest report, Carmen ran his vehicle into a fire hydrant. He then offered the investigating officer his credit card rather than his driver’s license. Police found a half bottle of Gray Goose vodka in the vehicle. Carmen registered a blood alcohol content of .23%, nearly three times the legal limit for intoxication in Ohio. He was released on a personal bond and is sheduled to be arraigned September 16. It is Carmen’s second drunk driving offense.

Carmen, 59, started his career in the 70’s with the Raspberries, recording hits like ‘Go All The Way’ and ‘Overnight Sensations’. He went on to a solo career and was the musical talent behind such hits as ‘Hungry Eyes’ and ‘All By Myself’.

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Gary Miller, an officer with the Boise Police Department, had his case of driving under the influence in Boise come to a close last Monday. Miller pleaded guilty to Idaho DUI and the Fourth District Magistrate handed down a sentence of one year probation, 90 days in jail and a $750 fine. 87 days of the jail term were then suspended. The Magistrate also agreed to a withheld judgment, meaning if Miller completes the probation period without incident, the DUI arrest will be taken off his record.

Miller, 38, was off-duty when he was arrested April 26 for drunk driving by an Idaho State Police trooper. His blood-alcohol content was reportedly twice the legal limit. At the time of the arrest, Miller was given a citation but not booked into the Ada County jail. State Police cited general officer safety as the reason for the lack of standard booking procedure.

Miller, a 10 year veteran with the Boise police department, still faces internal sanctions from an internal investigation.

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Kurt Angle, a professional wrestler and Olympic gold medalist, has been found not guilty of driving under the influence in Pittsburgh. The Alleghany County judge handed down the ruling after a non-jury trial.

Last September Angle was charged with suspicion of Pennsylvania DUI in suburban Pittsburgh. A motorist claimed that Angle had cut her off while exiting a bar parking lot. Moon Township officers later located Angle at his home, where he said he had consumed a few beers.

Angle

Roderick M. Ruffin, 53, was on his way to set up a camera to catch speeders when he was stopped for driving under the influence in Tempe. Motorists observed Ruffin, in a Redflex photo enforcement van, strike the curb twice and nearly hit the vehicle in front of him.

A police officer stopped the van after observing it weaving. Ruffin reportedly failed a field sobriety test and registered a blood alcohol content of .15%, nearly twice the legal limit for intoxication in Arizona. Under Arizona DUI laws, such an elevated BAC is considered an extreme DUI.

A spokesperson with Redflex said that Ruffin, who had been with the company for one year, has been let go.

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Christopher M. Harmon, a Raleigh police officer, was charged with driving while intoxicated in North Carolina after being pulled over for speeding. Harmon was riding a motorcycle shortly before 2:00 am when he was stopped for going 66 in a 45 mph zone.

The arresting officer noticed the strong presence of alcohol on Harmon

Lamarr Houston, defensive tackle for the Texas Longhorns, has been reinstated after a one game suspension for driving while intoxicated in Austin.

Houston was arrested for DWI on August 31 after being involved in an accident in downtown Austin. The arrest came hours after Houston and the Longhorns defeated their first football opponent of the season. The son of a preacher from Colorado, Houston apologized to family and teammates for his actions.

Houston

The Assistant Police Chief for Newport News, Virginia was arrested last Saturday for drunk driving. According to Virginia State Police, Dawn Barber, 44, was stopped on Interstate 64 around 9:40 pm and a breath test indicated she had a blood alcohol content of .12%. The legal limit for intoxication in Virginia is .08%. Barber was consequently charged with driving under the influence in Hampton, Virginia. There is no word as to what initiated the traffic stop.

Barber is a 21 year veteran with the Newport News police department. She was named assistant police chief of administration and support in 2005, making news as the highest ranking position in the police department to be held by a woman. Barber oversees the 911 dispatch center, fleet operations, property and evidence, recruiting and crime analysis divisions. She was responsible for oversight on the construction of the new police headquarters which opened last year.

Barber has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

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Recently the New Mexico Supreme Court denied a legal challenge to a program that calls for Albuquerque police to seize the vehicles of those accused of first offense DWI. That cleared the way for implementation of the controversial law though APD has yet to seize a vehicle from a first offender.

The delay comes from concern about storage space and manpower necessary to manage the program. The police say that it is highly unlikely that a vehicle will be seized if someone is arrested for first offense driving while intoxicated in New Mexico. They will be looking for additional factors, such as an accident with injury, before confiscating a vehicle.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged the Albuquerque law stating that everyone has the constitutional right not to have property taken until one has been convicted of a crime. The Albuquerque police program called for property to be seized immediately, before the accused had the right to a fair hearing or trial. That, according to the ACLU, violates basic law. The New Mexico Supreme Court denied the challenge to the program because it was too broad and the Albuquerque seizure law had not yet been enforced. The court said that a challenge should come from an individual whose rights had been violated by a vehicle seizure.

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Program calls for MADD observers to help police spot drunk drivers in Florida.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has announced a program they developed that calls for partnerships with law enforcement to report potential drunk drivers. Called a ‘first in the nation’, MADD will work with the Manatee County Florida Sheriff’s Department to test the program.

MADD calls the initiative ‘TOP’ or Traffic Observation Program. It calls for teams of two trained observers to travel the roads looking for signs of possible Florida DUI offenses. When they spot suspected drunk drivers, the teams will contact the Manatee County Sheriff’s Department. The observers will be in personal, unmarked vehicles using their own cell phones.

‘TOP’ will be initiated over the Labor Day weekend and continued every weekend and on some weeknights for six months, after which the Florida pilot program will be evaluated. MADD has said it will be collecting its own data on response times, percentage of arrests and the ratio of observations to interceptions. There is no indication the citizen action will report the accuracy of their observations in terms of false arrests or unwarranted traffic stops.

A MADD spokesperson said they are “only doing what every citizen could and should do.”

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Colorado DUI leads to witch

May 26, 2012