A young, 24-year-old is being convicted of driving under the influence and seriously injuring one of the passengers in his vehicle, and will spend thirty days in prison after pleading guilty to these charges.

The offender was sentenced at a hearing in a Vermont District court in Barre on Monday, approximately one year after the one-car accident at the intersection of Towne Hill Road and Route 2 in East Montpelier.

According to a victim impact statement issued by the court, the accident left a 27-year-old woman with three broken bones in her spine, two in her neck, a broken breastbone, and a broken collarbone with scars covering her body. She was visiting from Virginia when the accident occurred and lives there currently. She is asking for $105, 227 in restitution fees to pay for her medical bills, lost wages and other losses. The outcome of this will be decided in a separate restitution hearing. The victim was not at the hearing but supplied a written statement to her current condition:

“This has affected me in so many ways: I am in a brace day to day…I do not sleep through the night as I cannot get comfortable, I have headaches every day…”

In addition she said she hast lost her job and unable to find a replacement due to her injuries. She also wrote a long list of the many ways her life has changed, including walking her dog and paying her bills.

The offender was also convicted of drinking and driving in 2006. He had been driving his Saab early in the morning on June 7th of last year. He drove through an intersection on Route 2 and send another car into the river. Many others were injured and the offender’s BAC measured .113. His full sentence was one to five years but the bulk was suspended and reduced to a 30-day jail sentence and 30 days of work crew.

Recently, southern Orange County experienced a DUI accident that caused one death and multiple injuries. In the crash, a 46-year-old man died in the accident and left a 24-year-old woman on life support from severe brain damage and a 28-year-old woman with other major injuries.

The two intoxicated drivers who caused the accident were arrested this past Sunday in connected with the pair of alcohol-related collisions on the Glendale Freeway in Eagle Rock. One of the drivers was 24-years-old from Sylmar. Reportedly, he drove the wrong way onto the southbound Holly Drive off ramp and then proceeded to drive north in the southbound lanes of the freeway. According to the California Highway Patrol, these activities occurred at approximately 2 a.m. The man then struck the victim who died in the head-on-collision involving the victim’s Cadillac Catera, according to Timothy Palmer of the California Highway Patrol.

There were two women in man’s car, who were both from San Fernando, who suffered major injuries. One of the two was on life support at Huntington Memorial Hospital with severe brain injuries, Palmer said.

The offender suffered major leg injuries and was taken to County-USC Medical Center. He was believed to be under the influence of alcohol and was arrested, Palmer said.
After the first collision, as the offender’s car sat sideways in the number two lane, another woman, of Montrose, hit the back of the sedan, but managed to keep control of the Nissan Sentra she was driving. She and her passenger were not injured, but she was arrested for suspicion of felony drunken driving, Palmer said.

Also according to Palmer, “It is unknown, but unlikely, if this (second) collision contributed significantly to any of the injuries sustained by the (two women).”

On Friday May 1, 2009 a drunken driver crashed into an Illinois Department of Transportation truck on the Eisenhower Expressway. The motorist expected to be charged with a DUI charge involving a state highway worker.

The driver of the accused vehicle slammed into a construction truck on the eastbound Eisenhower near Mannheim Road around 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning, according to Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Joe Stangl.

The Department of Transportation vehicle was parked on the shoulder while the male worker was preparing to set up signs when the accident occurred. The two involved in the crash were taken directly to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver who caused the crash is expected to be charged with drinking and driving and for violating Scott’s Law, which requires drivers to change lanes or slow down for an emergency vehicle.

The driver will be facing charges and penalties under Illinois law for drinking and driving under the influence. If this is his first offense he will face the following standards under Illinois law:

“If you are convicted for drunk driving in the State of Illinois, the first offense will result in a minimum 1 year suspension of your drivers license. In addition, you may be imprisoned for up to one year and fined up to $1,000. If the driver was transporting a person under the age of 16 at the time of the violation, is subject to an additional mandatory minimum fine of $1,000, an additional mandatory minimum 140 hours of community service, which shall include 40 hours of community service in a program benefiting children, and an additional 2 days of imprisonment.”

Second offenders face harsher and more stringent policies.

A deputy from Shelby County Sheriff’s department was injured this past Saturday in a DUI accident. The crash occurred when a pick-up slammed into his cruiser in North Shelby County. An official spokesperson for the department said Deputy Charles Wallace was responding to a local call about a sick baby at a home on the 45th block of Cedar Leaf Cove around 7:00 p.m. when the accident happened.

Due to the weather, the deputy chose not to engage his siren or emergency lights, and was driving below the normal speed limit, department spokesman Steve Shular said. As he was cruising south on Raleigh-Millington near Sykes Road, a truck was heading north and turned left into the driver’s side door of the squad car. The impact of the crash sent the cruiser off the road into a field where he was trapped inside his vehicle with a gash on his forehead until emergency crews arrived at the scene of the accident.

The deputy was sent directly to the hospital to be treated and received several stitches for a cut to his head. He remained in the hospital until late Saturday night in stable condition.

The alerted deputies found three unopened cans of beer in the pickup and noticed the driver smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes, according to the charges. The driver, 43-year-old Centeno Martin of Millington, was charged with a DUI and failure to yield. According to the Metro DUI Squad, Martin’s blood alcohol content was 0.13 when the legal limit in Tennessee is 0.08. They also discovered a handgun, loaded with ten rounds of ammunition inside the truck.

Bond was set at $7,500 for Centeno, who is to appear in court today.

Recently, a guilty plea has been filed for an accident that occurred last summer. In the original accident, a red Ford Explorer being driven by an intoxicated driver rolled over several times, throwing a passenger before it, before crashing into a house on Hemlock Avenue.

When authorities arrived to the scene, witnesses said, Fredy Alvarado-Gonzales was crying and yelling, “I killed my baby. Please help my baby.”

Fredy was referring to his brother, Selim A. Alvarado-Gonzales, 22, the passenger who was crushed last summer when the Explorer landed on top of him, according to documents submitted in Circuit Court on Tuesday. Fredy Alvarado-Gonzales pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Originally, Fredy denied that he had been driving, according to a summary of evidence in the case. The following morning, he confessed to driving and said he did not admit the facts originally because he was scared. He admitted to having two beers about two hours before the wreck and to drinking three beers at a barbecue earlier in the day.

Key witnesses report Alvarado-Gonzales and his brother had been at a convenience store purchasing beer about 10 minutes before the crash. The hospital also reports that his blood-alcohol content was about 0.18, or more than twice the legal limit considered evidence to impairment.

The plea agreement says that Alvarado-Gonzales must serve six months in jail, with an additional four years and six months of time suspended. While awaiting trial, he as served this sentence. He has served that time while awaiting trial, but Commonwealth’s Attorney’s spokeswoman Amanda Howie said he must remain incarcerated pending federal action on immigration issues.

Cori W. Bassett, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said she was checking on the status of Alvarado-Gonzales on Tuesday afternoon. This may be in connection to a 2007 incident. In that case,  illegal immigrant Alfredo Ramos was ordered to serve 24 years in prison and then be deported for a drunken driving crash that killed two teenage girls in Virginia Beach that year. This incident among others has lead to a large movement for immigration reformation.

The Skagit County Jury in Washington State decided against the Washington State Patrol and the County this past week. The jury decided this past week that Whatcom County must pay $5.5 million for not taking enough preventative measures to stop a drunk driver who seriously injured another motorist in a 2007 head-on collision.

According to attorney Dean Brett, this jury verdict is the largest ever in Skagit County.

The accident occurred on Jan. 4, 2007 on Highway 542, when a drunk driver crossed the centerline. The vehicle then collided head-on into a car driven by Hailey French, who was 22-years-old at the time. French suffered severe injuries to her legs, pelvis and wrists. She has already undergone 13 surgeries and is expected to undergo many more.

Brett, her attorney, filed a lawsuit on French’s behalf in October 2007.

“We sue drunk drivers - and those who enable them to wreak havoc on our highways. This catch-and-release system of dealing with drunk drivers must stop,” said Brett.

He then named the Washington State Patrol and Whatcom County as defendants, rather than the woman whom committed the crime.

“The accident occurred one hour and 39 minutes after a State Trooper drove a drunk driver home, returned her keys, and told her not to drive again until after she was sober,” Brett said. “Instead, she called a taxi, returned to her car, drove drunk and crossed the centerline hitting Hailey French head-on.”

Brett also noted that the drunk driver had been sentenced on a prior drunk driving charge and was required to have an alcohol interlock installed in her car. However, the Whatcom County District Court Probation Department failed to follow up on the court-ordered installation, according to Brett.

Following a three-week trial, the jury concluded the State Patrol and Whatcom County had been negligent and awarded damages to French in the amount of $5.5 million.