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I was looking at our county jail roster this morning. Of 100 inmates, 13 are in for driving under the influence. Three of those are for the third offense, two for a second offense, and four for intoxication manslaughter. Here in South Texas, multiple DUI offenses are somewhat common; they certainly aren’t unusual. I’m sure there are people who get one DUI and then enter a 12-step program, or simply have the willpower to never do it again. But a second offense needs to come with significant jail time; it’s proof that someone simply can’t control themselves. Last year, a guy driving a concrete pumper truck managed to kill a 5-year-old child on a school bus as well as a passerby in an SUV. Read some of the lurid details:
During an interview with DPS troopers after the Bastrop County crash, Hernandez admitted to smoking marijuana the night before the crash, sleeping only three hours and using cocaine after waking up the day of the crash. He also told troopers he took a 15 minute nap in his truck prior to leaving the job site before the crash.
Court documents show Hernandez was arrested in Travis County in 2006 for driving on a suspended license. He was later arrested twice in Hays County in 2023 by San Marcos police for domestic violence (family violence assault) in August and by Hays County deputies for criminal mischief in November, involving a fight with his estranged wife.
According to court records, Hernandez also failed two drug tests in the past, testing positive for marijuana in Dec. 2022 and cocaine in April 2023.
Court records say Hernandez’s commercial driving status is currently prohibited, but the state’s driver’s licensing agencies are not required to downgrade CDL Statuses until Nov. 2024 according to changes in the federal register.
Court documents also state the owner of the company Hernandez was working for, FJM Concrete LLC, told DPS he had not verified the status of Hernandez’s commercial driver’s license with the federal drug and alcohol clearing house database before hiring him.
I mean, that’s a massive failure at more than one level of government (and private industry). But I firmly believe that someone like Mr. Hernandez will only stop driving drunk and/or stoned if he is incarcerated. In my county, every DUI suspect gets a mandatory blood draw (judges are set up to sign a warrant 24/7 on rotation).
Would that just be a massive intrusion by government? Or a necessary response to a serious problem? I’ve read about cases where people get DUIs when they intentionally sleep in their car rather than driving drunk. The temptation to pick low-hanging fruit could easily make a more draconian program unworkable.
The photo is from a crash we worked on Valentine's Day of 2020. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get both occupants out of the car and the passenger died at the hospital. The driver was later charged with intoxication and manslaughter. I posted a conversation at the time about the massive hidden costs associated with those sorts of incidents.
The driver’s family bristled at any suggestion that he had been drinking. As it turns out, he sat in the car with his legs pinned, drinking alcohol from a red solo cup with blood and broken glass in it, talking to us the entire time.
Discussion (53)
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And how many of the DUI offenders are ILLEGAL ALIENS? These people shouldn't be here in the first place! Throw their a$$es out of the country now!
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Drinking from a red solo cup with blood and broken glass in it, while people worked to remove him and his passenger from the wreckage? If I'd been there, I'd slapped the cup from his hand! I'd been hard-pressed not to slap HIM, then scream at him, "Look what you did! Look at your passenger!" And his family take umbrage at him being accused of being a drunk? I think they might be in need of breathalyzer tests, don't you?
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Every DUII arrest I made involved repeat offenders. Oregon is one of 12 states that does not allow sobriety check points, but impaired drivers are easy to spot. One of my arrests involved a prescription drug. Unfortunately for the driver his name was not on the bottle of pills he was using.
I have been involved in two fatalities involving an impaired driver. That does not count the times I was called to provide traffic control for accidents for another officer's arrest of an impaired driver. I have stopped drivers that were so intoxicated they could not stand up without my help when I got them out of the car.
The short version of the Oregon statute: "Is under the influence of intoxicating liquor, cannabis, psilocybin, a controlled substance or an inhalant;" "Is under the influence of any combination of intoxicating liquor, cannabis, psilocybin, a controlled substance and an inhalant."
Separating an alcoholic, or drug user from their vehicle is difficult. Repeat offenders will buy a cheap vehicle or junker and will keep driving while intoxicated. Real prison time doesn't come until they cause serious physical injury, or a death with a vehicle.
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I personally know someone that this happened to. There is always going to be overreach by somebody in government. However, My guess is these folks are not going to be your repeat offenders. Seems the bad accidents are mostly caused by those who have already been sited more than a few times, just like your example.
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A friend of mine is a cop in Asheville, NC. He told me that a majority of his DUI's these days are marijuana, not alcohol.
As gummys etc get more popular, it's creating it's own flood of DUI's.
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