Lake Elsinore Councilman Admits Guilt in DUI Charges

All drivers and motorists are required to follow traffic rules. Those who choose to ignore their responsibility will receive a punishment that corresponds to the graveness of the offense that they committed.

In fact, a Lake Elsinore councilman was recently sentenced to three years of probation and six days in custody after he pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor DUI.

Reports stated that Thomas Buckley, 44, was pulled over by the authorities in November after they noticed that his vehicle does not have a front license plate.

It was determined later on that the he had a blood-alcohol level of .08.

According to Buckley’s attorney, the councilman will likely serve his six days of custody in a work release program.

Reports said Buckley was also required to join a first-time drinking driver program and pay a fine amounting to $1,582.

People in high positions should set a good example and avoid doing negligent actions that other people may follow. Drivers will continue to disobey traffic rules if the people whom they look up to also disregard them.

Speeding, DUI Results to Three Injuries

A single car collision which was caused by DUI has injured three vehicle occupants in Montebello. One of them had major injuries as he was ejected from the vehicle.

The 33-year-old Whittier man identified as Lester Enrique Chupina was apprehended on charges of felony drunk driving.

Alcohol and speeding is a deadly combination as it can cause critical injuries to vehicle occupants. Drivers must never overestimate their driving skills and underestimate the dangers of alcohol.

Suspected DUI Driver Drags Woman

Despite knowing the legal repercussions of hit and run, many drivers still opt to run away from the authorities in case of car accidents. While escaping may afford them temporary freedom, drivers could face pile of charges when they get caught.

In San Marcos, a woman was seriously injured when she was hit by a suspected drunken driver, Leopoldo Morales. The victim with her husband was heading towards their car at a parking lot when a Saturn SL struck her then dragged her under the car.

The woman suffered internal injuries and injuries to her back, ribs and right arm.

Instead of stopping, Morales drove off and headed west on West Mission Road where he was noticed by the police. He continued to evade the police until his car crashed head-on with a parked car on Descanso Avenue. He tried to run and hide but he was soon caught.

Morales would be facing several felony charges such as suspicion of driving under the influence causing serious bodily injury, hit-and-run and evading arrest.

Had Morales stopped the moment he struck the woman, he could have been spared of some of the charges. But he chose to speed off thinking that he could get away with his deed.

The woman may file a hit and run case against Morales for the negligent operation of his vehicle. Through the help of a personal injury attorney, she has greater chances of winning the case.

Suspected DUI Driver Hits Fire Engine

“Do not drink and drive” is a simple rule that almost every one could not seem to follow.

No day passes by without a drunk driving incident. In most cases, it causes serious injury or property damage.

In Mira Misa, Jack Albert Morales smashed his Honda Accord into the back of a fire engine on Interstate 15. Unfortunately, aboard the car were Morales’ wife and 12-year-old son. The three were seriously injured.

Authorities suspected that Morales was under the influence.

The fire truck was responding to another crash in the freeway and parked at an angle. Just as the fire fighters were putting out safety cones, the Accord suddenly hit the truck’s rear bumper. A firefighter was knocked several feet away due to the impact.

Serious consequences wait whoever attempts to drive under the influence. Not only has it posed physical harm, it also creates infractions with the law.

Victims of drunk driving accidents may sue the driver for negligence through the assistance of a personal injury attorney.

Hit and Run Driver Arrested after Chase

Hit and run accidents often end up unresolved due to lack of defendants to be indicted for it.

To impute liability, witnesses’ accounts are vital. Without it, parties at fault would remain at large. Moreover, the chance of drivers doing the same act again is high.

In Carlsbad, a 23-year old woman was struck by a blue Chevrolet truck at the intersection of Maple Avenue and Carlsbad Boulevard. The woman only sustained injuries.

Luckily, witnesses were able to get the license plate of the truck. When the police officers spotted and stopped the same truck, the driver sped off. A chase followed until the truck drove off an embankment and landed on the recessed driveway of an RV storage facility. Due to the impact, the driver had to be extricated from the truck.

The driver was taken to the hospital and later arrested. He would be charged with suspicion of hit and run with injury, driving under the influence of alcohol and driving on a suspended license and on probation for DUI, and driving under the influence with prior DUI convictions.

The driver was previously arrested and convicted of DUI.

This incident relays one thing: vigilance on the road is necessary. Were if not for the alert bystanders who witnessed the incident, the accident would just be another unsolved case.

Victims of hit and run accidents have no means of imputing liability against their assailants without anything to implicate them. A hit and run case could not be filed against them without evidence pointing them as the driver.

In case the driver would be apprehended, the assistance of a hit and run lawyer would be most convenient and advantageous.

Officers Arrest Brother of the Real DUI driver

Laws, rules and regulations are created to punish those who committed illegal acts. It does not intend to punish innocent people.

Unluckily, Jason Anderson Deats was a victim of a wrongful arrest made by the Orange County Sheriff's deputies.

The arrest was made at his home on June 21, 2008 for suspicion of drunk driving. Consequently, he was prosecuted for several misdemeanors, including evading a peace officer and driving under the influence. He managed to go out of bail but complained of the beatings he got from the authorities.

Ten months later or on April 13, 2009, all charges against him were dropped. The dropping of charges was prompted by his brother’s confession that he was the real culprit.

Aaron Anderson Deats came forward and informed the police that he was the driver of the Honda Prelude on the night of June 21. He pleaded guilty to misdemeanor evading a peace officer and was sentenced to three years' probation.

Jason now filed a petition asking for permission from the Orange County Superior Court to file a claim against the county. He wanted the county to pay for the wrongful arrest and beatings that he had been subjected to.

Certainly, there had been a mistake in the procedure undertaken by the police officers. The authorities could have used their resources to identify the real culprit. Proper investigation should have been done.

If the court permitted Jason to file a claim against the county, he may have a good chance of prevailing against the negligent officers.

Traffic Violations: Risking the Lives of People

Traffic laws are implemented to maintain peace and order and to ensure the safety of people. If such laws are violated, injuries and damages may occur.

Last March 23, an accident happened in Chula Vista where a suspected drunk driver who was on probation for DUI (driving under the influence) led police officers on a short chase, resulting in major property damage ended only after the driver crashed into a house.

Because the accident started when the 30-year-old driver, who was driving a full-size Chevy pickup at around 2:15 a.m., was stopped by police officers because of a traffic violation and then sped off as the officers approached him. Some drivers, including this one, may think that they can get away from such a violation so they flee from the scene, without taking into consideration the possible consequences of their actions. After the driver sped off, he lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a house.

The accident resulted in major damage to the garage and to a car inside it, as well as two more vehicles, one in the driveway and the other one in a neighbor’s adjoining driveway. The driver sustained moderate injuries.
All these resulted because of the driver’s refusal to abide by the traffic laws, not knowing that such rules are intended to protect people from harm, including himself.

Making a Difference

When you want your community’s image to change for the better, you help your officials to put awareness in your own community.

Dr. Owen Leons, founder of Teachable Moment Foundation, saw this urge to help Sacramento California in its battle against drunk driving.

Sacramento ranks first in California for having the most cases of drunk-driving incidents.

As a starter for his campaign, he established a website called every37.com aimed at social marketing efforts to reach young motorists who are often the victims of drunk-driving related accidents. It specifically targets motorists between 18 to 35 years old who are prone to the risks of drunk driving.

The website would serve as an interactive portal that would inform drivers of the dangerous consequences of driving while intoxicated. To further the campaign, advertising promotions were launched. Media appearances and streets plays were performed to spread information.

Based on the statistics, the numbers are alarming. This does not include incidents, which are unaccounted for. I bet if all incidents were properly accounted for, most probably the statistics will zoom up.

If all of us will help contribute to the betterment of our community just like what Leons did, certainly, the world would be a better place to live in especially for our children.

Severe Penalty Awaits Incorrigible Drunk Driver

Driving plus intoxication equals danger. Driving plus high speed plus intoxication equals horrible disaster.

Jose Hernandez has been never learned his lesson. His seven convictions for drunk driving failed to warn or slow him down. This time, he was convicted of murder for killing a 60-year-old woman drunk driving.

Hernandez was seemed incorrigible of his ways. He may have cheated death for the times that he had been drunk driving but to actually drunk drive, while his two-year-old daughter was on board the car was utterly negligent and irresponsible.

For someone who had been arrested for seven times of drunk driving, he should have been aware by this time of the consequences of driving while intoxicated. For some one who has undergone drunk driving education programs, he should have been aware of the dangers of it.

Hernandez’s previous offenses had been used to charge him with murder. It may also be used to file civil liability suit.

For some who have plans of following Hernandez’s footsteps or have potential to be like him, severe penalty awaits you. Let this case awaken your senses and change your poor choices.

New Beginnings

It seemed that the authorities’ campaign for sober holidays had paid off, at least in Sacramento, California.

Sacramento policemen had made few DUI arrests over the holidays. Reports revealed that for the CHP Valley Division which included the Sacramento region, only 75 motorists had been arrested for DUI compared to 104 in 2007.

The incidents resulted to the death of 16 people, 13 of said fatalities were not wearing their seatbelts.

Sobriety checkpoints were held and saturation patrols were conducted beginning December 12 in an effort to reduce incidents of drunk driving and DUI-related deaths.

This goes to show that when authorities would just put their minds into it, safer California roads would be within our reach.

The Holidays may be over but road-related incidents are just waiting to happen. It is up to us to start our year with caution and safety in our mind.

Leaving License Plate after Drunk Driving Accident Made it Easy

We have read a lot about leaving a business or calling card whenever we figured in an accident. But this one is quite a calling card – the license plate of the car itself.

The driver of a pickup truck reportedly smashed his vehicle into another vehicle somewhere in Manteca, California. He caused injuries into two of its occupant in the process, and most especially leaving the license plate of his car, making it easy for the police to track him.

According to reports, the two occupants of the vehicle were Taiwanese couple who were on their way to Santa Clara when their car was broadsided by a pickup truck. The car driver fled from the scene of the accident.

But as he left his car’s license plate, the police readily tracked him and was booked after he failed the breathalyzer, sobriety and field sobriety tests. He was taken to jail.

The victim driver said he had no recollection whatsoever of what had happened. The driver’s fiancée suffered the greatest effect of the car accident which left her trapped in the right side of the car.

In the US, there are more than 6 million car accidents and from that figure, 42,642 lost their lives; one person dies every 13 minutes or 115 each day. Others suffer bodily injury, which range from temporary to permanent injuries.

DUI, Elderly Victims, and Vehicle Accidents

Vehicle accidents involving drunk drivers are commonplace occurrence and there seem to be no end to the number of innocent victims, harmed or killed, in DUI-related incidents.

In the article,”Woman Charged in Church Van Drunk Driving Accident”, posted on August 20, 2008, some factors tended to complicate matters as two elderly women were among those injured.

The collision involved a car driven by an intoxicated woman and a church van carrying seven members, most of them elderly, from the Light Oak Missionary Baptist Church.

Luckily, for the van passengers, including the two elderly, they suffered only minor injuries but the vehicle was damaged extensively.

According to the article, the female driver of the car that collided with the van had been charged with “drunk driving and driving left of center” before. When police confronted the suspect, the officers smelled her reeking of alcohol.

As an excuse, the car driver denied being drunk and said she just took a few sips of vodka before she left the house. She also claimed that she was only driving at 20 miles per hour, and was just trying to reach for something in the back seat when the accident took place.

Apparently, it was not the first time for the same driver to be involved in a similar accident and for all other accidents, drunk driving is the scourge of motorists.

Perhaps in the future, the authorities could implement stricter laws that will ultimately prevent occurrence of similar accidents.

Another DUI Crash

After I wrote my legal blog dealing about DUI crashes of a famous Hollywood talent, when I was about to wrap thing up, I suddenly browse-in a news article that relates the same DUI infested car crashes involving Jeep And Tractor Trailer. This happened Last July 11, 2008, which is considerably an older one from the one I just made a blog with.

The crash happened when a Jeep rear-ended a slow moving tractor-trailer on northbound side of the Cuesta Grade. The driver of the Jeep was identified as, Joshua Lowe, 31 year old, who was found to have suffered intoxication at that point.

Lowe and his passenger were taken to Sierra Vista Medical Center for treatment of their moderate injuries. Apparently, Lowe will be dealing with a charge of DUI.

As I constantly aired, people should not drink and drive in order to avoid crippling DUI crashes such as what happened to this case.

Drunk driving should be not be countenanced especially that there are huge volume of cases of injuries and deaths in these causation alone.

As an Attorney, I deeply pressed concern for the continued prevalence of like events that happen in our roads, the same way that I am irked to those irresponsible numbers of abusive road users who are drunk dead in driving.

Wew! We have another worthless addition to the constant road issue that besets us.

If you have been involved in a DUI crashes such as this one, it is worthwhile to seek legal help from an adeptly qualified Lawyer to help you battle your compensation pursuit, at the soonest.

Auto Collision with a Drunk Driver

Driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs and/or alcohol is a grave offense in the county of Los Angeles; hence, it follows serious legal consequences. As discussed by a legal blog entitled, “DUI Overview”, the laws make it a crime to drive or operate a motor vehicle under the intoxication of liquor or any drugs.

Legislation on DUI varies from state to state. It is generally considered a criminal offense. It becomes a civil offense when the DUI results to an accident tragically causing injuries or deaths.

While DUI as a crime punishes the offender with jail time, community service, suspended license, fines and probation, DUI offense under the civil law entails payment or compensation to a harmed individual for the injuries they sustained due to the intoxicated driver’s wrongful act.

Alcohol-related driving accidents account for a large number of traffic deaths in the roads of Los Angeles each year. DUI accidents are so prevalent nowadays that they take one life every 33 minutes. DUI accidents most often leads to auto collisions leaving other drivers and their passengers injured.

The poor individuals who gets harmed from these DUI related accidents, or the surviving loved ones of a person who dies for the same reason, deserve to be compensated for the losses they have incurred. The law provides them the right to file charges in order to recover monetary compensation from these negligent drivers.

Victims of DUI accidents who are planning to sue must establish that the offender was in fact driving under the influence to an extent that it results to serious impairment of his or her judgment and ability to drive.

Plaintiffs should also be able to verify that the DUI was inexcusable by the fact that the driver willingly drank to the point of being intoxicated although he/she knew that he/she would be driving. The complainant should also establish that the driver knew of the possible harm that may occur because of his or her actions; nonetheless did not do anything to prevent such harm from happening.

The number of auto collision in Los Angeles may diminish significantly in the absence of drivers driving under the influence. Sadly, judging by the rate of DUI related accidents in the present; reality tells us that this is far from happening. So in the event that you or your loved ones get involved in an auto collision with an intoxicated driver, call the help of an accident lawyer who may assist you with your claim.