Lafourche Parish officials have announced that a ‘No Refusal’ policy tested under a pilot program will now be permanently adopted throughout the parish. Under the initiative, when a driver is suspected of driving while intoxicated in Louisiana and refuses to submit to a test for blood alcohol content, a warrant is sought for a court ordered blood draw.

Citing an interest in saving lives and altering behavior, the parish sheriff says aggressive enforcement makes “absolute, perfect sense”.

Of the 30 fatal crashes in the parish in 2008 that resulted in 34 deaths, 18 involved alcohol impairment. During the same statistical period, 150 motorists were arrested for DWI in Lafourche Parish. Under current Louisiana DWI law, a driver who refuses to submit to a breath or blood test is subject to loss of driver’s license for one year. With a second suspected LA DWI offense, the suspension becomes two years.

Rapides is the only other parish in the state to enact a full-time ‘No Refusal’ policy.

Have you been charged with a LA DWI and are looking for legal help from a Louisiana DWI attorney?

The annual football game played in Jacksonville between college rivals the University of Florida and the University of Georgia is called the World’s largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. In response, several law enforcement agencies are teaming up to target motorists driving under the influence in Florida.

The Florida Highway Patrol, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, Alachua Police Department, High Springs Police Department, Waldo Police Department and University of Florida Police Department will be conducting sobriety checkpoints and additional FL DUI patrols following the game on Saturday. The game starts at 3:30 pm and fans are expected to begin heading out of Jacksonville around 7:00 pm, the scheduled start time of the anti-DUI activities.

Have you been arrested for a FL DUI and are looking for legal assistance from a qualified Florida DUI lawyer?

North Carolina Highway Patrol took a driver into custody on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in Union County. Around 12:13 am Tuesday morning, Brandon Marze crossed the center line of a highway, struck a ditch and overturned several times before crashing into a parked truck. It was estimated that Marze was traveling at 90 miles per hour before the accident.

Marze broke his jaw and both arms. Officers suspect alcohol played a factor in the crash and took a blood sample to test blood alcohol content. The result has yet to be determined by a state lab. Marze was charged with suspicion of North Carolina DWI and careless and reckless driving.

Have you been charged with a NC DWI and are needing legal assistance from a qualified North Carolina DWI attorney?

Illinois State Police received a report of a car on the Kennedy Expressway with a person clinging to the roof. Trooper Clare Pfotenhauer pulled over the vehicle near Chicago’s border with Park Ridge around 4:30 am and began an investigation.

The unidentified person on the roof of the car turned out to be the owner of the vehicle, yet would not say how or why that person got up there. The driver was deemed to be driving under the influence in Chicago and charged with misdemeanor DUI and misdemeanor criminal trespassing. The owner refused to sign a complaint so the driver avoided a more serious felony offense.

It was determined that the incident started nearly 11 miles away, though it was not known how long the owner was on the roof of the car.

Have you been arrested for an IL DUI and are looking for qualified legal help from a Illinois DUI lawyer?

A Pennsylvania doctor was sentenced to four months to four years in prison after pleading guilty to his eighth DUI offense. 56-year old anesthesiologist Dr. Ashok Padhiar told the judge that he was “ashamed, humiliated and humbled”.

Padhiar was arrested for driving under the influence in Pennsylvania on October 29 of last year. He was found unconscious in his parked vehicle with two and a half empty bottles of cognac. His blood alcohol content registered three times the legal limit for intoxication. Padhiar has five convictions for drunk driving in Ohio on his record, as well as one Illinois DUI and one Michigan DUI.

The Johnstown Pennsylvania doctor will receive credit for 67 days spent in rehab. His minimum jail sentence will be another 53 days, after which he will be placed under house arrest for 12 months.

Have you been charged with a PA DUI and are needing qualified legal assistance from a Pennsylvania DUI lawyer?

California Highway Patrol officers responded to reports of a single vehicle accident in Santa Rosa Tuesday night. They found a Toyota pick-up truck on its side in the roadway. Firefighters who had arrived on the scene first told the officers that the driver had walked off down the street. The driver, Brandon Cheney, was soon found and he reported that his truck had been stolen and he had been running after it. The officers did not buy the story and initiated a drunk driving investigation. Cheney failed to walk in a straight line and was soon under arrest for driving under the influence in California.

As the scene was being cleaned up, a woman drove up in a Volkswagen Passat and said she had received a phone call from her boyfriend Cheney saying that he had been in an accident. Something aroused the officers’ suspicions and they asked the driver, Jennifer O’Neal, to submit to a field sobriety test too. She too was determined to be driving impaired.

Cheney, 23, and O’Neal, 29, spent the night in the Sonoma County Jail. Cheney has two prior convictions for California DUI on his record, as well as arrests for street racing and driving with a suspended license.

Have you been charged with a CA DUI and are needing the assistance from a qualified California DUI attorney?

A 37-year old driver of a Jeep Commander ran off the road at a t-intersection, struck a guardrail and rolled down an embankment into an irrigation canal in Weld County. The wreck occurred near the Timnath Reservoir shortly before 2:00 am Wednesday morning.

The driver, Eric Brian Wells, was pronounced dead at the scene. His six passengers all suffered moderate injuries, with some being trapped in the vehicle in the canal. The six were extracted by rescue crews and transported to local hospitals.

Colorado State Troopers investigating the accident believe that alcohol was a factor. Wells was charged with Colorado DUI in 2009, but pled guilty to a lesser charge of driving while ability impaired. He was arrested again with driving under the influence in Colorado in 2003, and he pled guilty to that charge.

Have you been charged with a CO DUI and are looking for legal assistance from a qualified Colorado DUI attorney?

An 18-year old Louisiana State University student was charged with drunk driving in Baton Rouge after crashing into nine parked cars and slamming into a local restaurant. Anne Wallace was seen backing up at full speed and hitting four vehicles. She then went forward and hit another five cars. She hit a truck with enough force to drive it into the wall of Koi Sushi on State Street. Wallace’s car also struck the restaurant.

The incident left a 5 foot hole in the restaurant wall, with broken electrical lines and plumbing, and displaced concrete blocks from an adjacent retaining wall. Tables and booths in the restaurant were overturned, but no one was injured.

Wallace had a blood alcohol content of 0.13%. She was booked at the East Baton Rouge Parish jail on charges of driving while intoxicated in Louisiana and failure to maintain a vehicle.

Have you been arrested for a LA DWI and are needing legal assistance from a qualified Louisiana DWI lawyer?

A Tumwater Washington municipal judge is under investigation for drunk driving following two separate accidents on September 28. Judge John Lyman is accused of striking a car with his SUV in a parking lot and leaving the scene. He then hit another vehicle and again drove off. The second victim phoned 911 and followed the SUV as the judge drove home.

A Washington State Patrol trooper arrested the judge about two hours after the incidents. While being booked at the Olympia Police Department on suspicion of driving under the influence in Washington, Lyman registered a blood alcohol content of 0.135% and 0.140% on two breath tests. The legal limit for intoxication in the state is 0.08%.

The trooper did not place Lyman in jail because the judge had been cooperative during interviews at his home.

Tumwater police are investigating the two accidents, and will be forwarding the results to the Thurston County prosecutor’s office. The State Patrol is conducting a separate Washington DUI investigation. A special prosecutor from Mason County was named to the case to avoid a conflict of interest.

Lyman has agreed not to hear cases while the investigations are being conducted, though he is not on leave and is still being paid. A pro tem judge has been assigned to oversee the Tumwater municipal court cases.

Have you, or someone you know, been arrested for a WA DUI and are needing legal help from a qualified Washington DUI attorney?

A motorcyclist was arrested in Cumberland County for driving under the influence in Pennsylvania after being observed doing 147 miles per hour on Interstate 81. Ryan Felmlee was stopped around 11:00 pm on September 15 after a Pennsylvania State Trooper clocked him with a radar gun in a 65 mph construction zone. Felmlee, 24, was riding a Honda CBR600RR.

In addition to PA DUI, Felmlee was charged before a Magisterial District Judge with speeding and careless driving.

Have you, or someone you know, been arrested for a PA DUI? Are you needing assistance from a qualified Pennsylvania DUI attorney?