Alabama
April 12, 2008
Drug Dealer Busted After Clients Endanger Neighbors
Read this story in the Gasden Times
“The most recent complaint was that someone almost struck a car as they left that house at a high rate of speed,” Savage said. “These residents are sick and tired of drug addicts driving up and down their streets.”
March 16, 2008
Times Columnist Found Driving Under the Influence of Cocaine
Read about it in the Hunstville Times
Times columnist Lee Roop was arrested Friday night and charged with driving under the influence of drugs, possession of cocaine and speeding. According to Huntsville Police spokesman Wendell Johnson, Roop was pulled over at 10:30 p.m. in front of the Shell Food Mart at U.S. 72 East and Old Gurley Road, for driving 65 mph in a 40 mph zone.
October 30, 2007
Deadliest Year on record for Cullman County roadways
Read the story from the Cullman Times
It is official. A day after The Times reported an alarmingly high number of car crash fatalities in Cullman County, another wreck victim made this the deadliest year ever on Cullman County roads.
Chaney said alcohol is not the only adversary to driving judgement. Drugs and prescription medication can also cause misjudgement behind the wheel.
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Arkansas
August 25, 2008
Arkansas Implements CDL Database
Read the news from MarketWatch
The new online system is available through the state's official Web site ( http://www.Arkansas.gov) and provides access to a central repository of alcohol and drug test results for commercial drivers that can be accessed in real-time by employers.
Since the launch of this first-of-its-kind service in January 2008, 263 positive test results have been reported to the database and more than 5,100 commercial driver records have been searched. Of these searches, 45 generated a positive match and kept a potentially unsafe commercial vehicle driver off the state's roads.
August 15, 2008
Police Crack Down on Drugged Driving
Read the report from The Cabin
Driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher is illegal in every state. Arkansas also has a law stating that persons under the age of 21 who are driving with a BAC of .02 or higher could also be charged with Underage Driving Under the Influence (DUI). The DUI offense not only applies to alcohol impaired driving, but also prohibits driving under the influence of controlled substances such as marijuana or certain prescription drugs. The Conway Police Department has seven certified drug recognition experts to ascertain whether someone is too impaired to drive due to ingestion of controlled substances or over-the-counter medications.
May 17, 2008
Berryville Mayor on the Defensive After Drugged Driving Arrest
Read the news from WXVT
Detective Brandon Davis said deputies found a small amount of marijuana in McKinney's pants pocket and in the vehicle's ashtray. McKinney was arrested on charges of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated, possession of a controlled substance, and speeding.
January 15, 2008
High and Swerving, Soon to be Serving
Read this story in the Benton County Daily Record
After getting consent from the suspect, Hanna began to search him and the car. Hanna walked back to his patrol car and placed a colorful glass pipe on his vehicle's center console. After the next search, he placed a plastic bag filled with what appeared to be marijuana on the hood of the patrol car.
So was the suspect under the influence of anything ? "Just weed," Hanna said.
December 29, 2007
Police on the lookout for Drunk and Drugged Drivers
Read all about it in the Pine Bluff
So far this year, there have been eight deaths in Jefferson County directly related to impaired or drunk driving, with five of those in one accident on U.S. 425 on July 14.
Roy Lee Jordan, 57, a Mississippi truck driver, was charged with five counts of negligent homicide, and reportedly admitted to a state police investigator that he had used crack cocaine within six hours of the accident that killed LaKetria Wells, 27, of Monticello, and her four children.
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Florida
August 20, 2008
Murderous Rampage Follows Drugged Driving Episode
Read this story from Fox News
Casey Weldon Till, 26, of Haines City, faces murder and carjacking charges after the attacks involving family members traveling in two vehicles.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office tracked Till to his home through a pill bottle left at the scene late Sunday night. Police allege that he killed Odalis Cespedes, 41, by running her over twice. Till told police he was high on crack at the time.
April 11, 2008
NASCAR Driver Admits to Shooting Heroin Before Races; Drivers Comment
Read all about it in the Orlando Sentinel
Earnhardt also said this is the kind of thing nascar will react to if the public demands it: "If the public were to ask that question, NASCAR’s reaction would be to start testing people. They’ve always sort of had that style of management if you will. Once a complaint gets loud enough, they sort of take reaction to it. I wouldn’t have problem with random drug testing if it’s important to the integrity of the sport. That’s what’s important to me and maybe it would be able to help maintain that. We’ve always sort of had it differently than other stick and ball sports because we drive cars. It’s just overall handled differently"
March 7, 2008
Drug Recognition Expert Among Honored for DUI Arrests
Read this story in the Naples News
The Lee County Sheriff's Office would like to further congratulate Lee on recently becoming a nationally certified Drug Recognition Expert (DRE). In a significant number of incidents involving impaired drivers, alcohol is not the root cause of the impairment.
March 31, 2008
After Crash, Police Officer Admits to Recent Pot Use, Quits
Read the full story in the St. Petersburg Times
The 22-month lapse in employee drug testing was uncovered when a deputy resigned March 6 after admitting to superiors that he had recently smoked marijuana. Deputy Patrick Craven had been involved in a car crash that day and was given a drug test, which is Sheriff's Office policy.
December 25, 2007
Christmas Eve Dad Caught with Kids Shooting Up, Driving Around
Read story from cbs4.com
Two children in Palm Bay will not be spending Christmas with their father, after police took them into custody and arrested their dad, saying he may have been celebrating the holiday by shooting up drugs, while driving, with them in the car on Christmas eve.
November 17, 2007
High Levels of Meth found among those killed in train/car crash
Read the full account in the Ledger
At least two of the four young adults killed when a train struck a car in July had significant doses of methamphetamine in their bodies, according to the Polk Medical Examiner's Office.
September 27, 2007
Drugged school bus Driver Crashes bus
Read the full account from First Coast News
A school bus driver from the First Coast is facing criminal charges. Investigators say Jean Jones was drugged up and driving children.
Witnesses report seeing Jones' bus weaving through lanes while heading down I-10. The bus exited and turned onto Cahoon road. Moments later, the bus crashed into a fire hydrant at Ramona Boulevard.
September 17, 2007
A new trend emerges among DUI arrests
The full article
from The Florida Times-Union
Law enforcement officers increasingly are seeing cases in which drivers are impaired by more than drink.
Of 45 Northeast Florida drivers who died with alcohol in their systems in 2000, nine also had drugs such as codeine and cocaine in their systems, according to traffic death statistics from medical examiners. In 2006, of 54 who had been drinking before they died, 20 tested positive for the same kinds of drugs. Whether alone or in combination with alcohol, drugs - often legitimately prescribed - are involved in more and more driving arrests.
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Georgia
August 29, 2008
Narconon Warns of Rising Drugged Driving Dangers
Read this story in TransWorld News
Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia warns that the percentage of traffic deaths caused by drugged driving is rising. Not drunk driving, drugged driving.
"Reports across the country show that while the incidence of drunk driving violations has been on a decline, drugged driving is on the rise," comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab.
August 14, 2008
Zero-Tolerance For Drugged Drivers: Dalton Police
Read this release from the Daily Citizen
Operation Zero Tolerance is a nationwide mobilization of law enforcement agencies to combat drivers driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The campaign is used to raise driver awareness of the consequences of driving while under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
April 14, 2008
Hall County Seeks Drug Testing for Student Drivers
Read the story in the Gainesville Times
The Hall County Board of Education is looking at expanding mandatory, random drug testing to include students who drive to school as early as the fall. Superintendent Will Schofield recommended the measure Monday night.
"We don’t have a greater safety issue than people under the influence driving vehicles," he said in an interview earlier in the day.
March 4, 2008
Troopers Bust 3 Drugged Drivers in Highway Operations
Read this story in the Post-Searchlight
Three of the four people arrested on drug-related charges were charged with both driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs as well as misdemeanor marijuana possession, which means they were suspected of having less than one ounce of the illegal drug. A fourth person was only charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession.
January 23, 2008
Drugged Driver Gets Hammered by Grand Jury
Read the story in The True Citizen
A grand jury has indicted an impaired driver for causing a deadly accident on Highway 80 and then leaving three victims behind in the wreckage.
December 9, 2007
DUI Courts Reduce Dramatically Recidivism Rates
Read All About It from the Gainesville Times
One after another, the stories of redemption for repeat DUI offenders were told by Hall County State Court Judge Charles Wynne in a recent courtroom graduation ceremony.
December 3, 2007
Hall Board looks into implementing Random Student Drug Testing for Student Drivers
Read this news from Access North GA
System Athletic Director Gordon Higgins if no one else, student drivers issued a parking permit should be tested.
"No one would like to have students driving to or from school that are somehow impaired because they're taking some sort of drugs," Higgins said. "It puts themselves at risk as well as other people on the road."
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Kentucky
July 1, 2008
Prescription Drugged Driving Case Decided
Read the report from the Whitely Williamsburg News Journal
A Corbin man, who was indicted last week on two counts of manslaughter and for DUI stemming from a March 26 crash that claimed the life of two people, has had two civil lawsuit against him dismissed.
Drug tests for Randal Mayne, 45, also indicate that he tested positive for methadone in his urine and had diazepam and nordiazepam in his blood after the crash.
September 22, 2007
Governor appropriates $86,100 for impaired driving projects across Kentucky
Click Here to get the scoop from the Bowling Green Daily News
A state official of the Governor's Executive Cabinet stopped in Barren County on Friday to announce community investments for highway safety, drug task force operations and agricultural development.
Robbie Rudolph, secretary of Gov. Ernie Fletcher's Executive Cabinet, presented about $300,000 in federal highway safety funding to law enforcement agencies and health care facilities that serve Allen, Barren, Logan, Monroe, Simpson and Warren counties.
The funding will go toward efforts to curb speeding and impaired driving, as well as to promote seat belt use.
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Louisiana
April 22, 2008
Drugs Behind 71% Increase in DWI Arrests
Read the full story from 2TheAdvocate
The number of DWI arrests rose 71 percent in the city last year with many of the arrests involving prescription drugs rather than alcohol, according to police.
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North Carolina
February 1, 2008
Parolee, Likely High, Kills Innocent Motorist in Fatal Wreck
Read the story in the Daily Reflector
While on parole, Vick had tested positive for drug use and had been arrested in Jacksonville on cocaine charges, according to officials and court records. The Highway Patrol suspects drugs were a factor in the wreck that killed Peaden.
January 25, 2008
Police Seek Driving Under the Influence of Drugs Charges Against Deadly Accident Driver
Read the news in the Daily Reflector
A man accused in a Wednesday wreck that killed an ECU plumber also faces cocaine charges in Onslow County and was on parole after serving 13 years in prison for breaking and entering convictions.
January 24, 2008
Funky Kingstown Man Runs from Police after Driving High, Drunk
Read this news in the Shelby Star
A weekend police chase resulted in a 20-year-old Kingstown man being tasered and arrested for possession of more than 40 grams of marijuana.
According to Cleveland County Sheriff�s Office documents, Deputy B.J. Jones began following a silver Honda Accord on Kingstown Road around 10:30 p.m. Saturday after he noticed the car being driven �erratically and (the driver) failing to maintain lane.�
January 22, 2008
Lincolnton Sheriff Backs StopDruggedDriving.org in fight against Drugged Driving Menace
Read this story in the Lincoln Tribune
Sheriff Daugherty is backing a new website developed by the Institute For Behavior and Health for the fight against Drugged Driving.
Officials say that with the launch of the new website there now is a resource available for members from diverse communities of educators, parents, law enforcement officers, law makers, students and the media to learn about the growing threat of drugged drivers, including concrete suggestions of stops to be taken to combat this problem.
October 24, 2007
Drug-Impaired Sleep Driver pleads "not guilty"
Read this piece in the Burlington Times News
Shortly before 2:30 a.m. on March 30, 2006, Robert Strong Shields Jr., was stopped on Interstate 85/40 near exit 143 by Officer D.L. Sisk of the Graham Police Department.
Shields, an attorney from New Bern who was staying at a Cary hotel that night, had been driving erratically and had almost caused an accident before Sisk stopped him.
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South Carolina
June 8, 2008
Local Law Enforcement Adds Drug Recognition Experts to Police Force
Read the news from the Times and Democrat
Colleton County Alcohol Enforcement Team Coordinator Michael Strauss has a mission -- to get all impaired drivers off the road. And, he’s doing something about it. Strauss is a frequent visitor to schools in Colleton County, where he instructs the young people in the dangers of driving while impaired by either alcohol and/or drugs.
January 12, 2008
Driving on Prescription Drugs Killed Pedestrian; Driver Gets 10 Years
Readthe story from GoUpState.com
Jurors decided that Parris, who had no driver's license and had taken hydrocodone, Valium and Xanax before his vehicle ran off the road and struck Holt, was not legally impaired.
January 2, 2008
Impaired Lady, Mess Kit of Drugs in Car, Busted
Read this story in the Daily Record
Inside the vehicle, police found eight full cans of beer and six empty cans, drug paraphernalia, prescription narcotics for which no one had a prescription and what appeared to be cocaine residue, Sgt. Dale Pope of the Coats Police Department said.
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Tennessee
April 5, 2008
Man Crashes with Crack
Read this story in the UC Daily News
Cookeville Police responded to a one-car accident on Free Hill Road Tuesday night April 1, resulting in the arrest of a local man for crack cocaine. When Officer Jeremy Lintz arrived on the scene, a witness told him that he watched the wreck and saw two males, one wearing a white shirt, running from the car.
January 25, 2008
Trucking Stoned Resulted in Innocent Motorist Killed
Read the article in the Decatur Daily
Paul George Neto, 46, was driving while intoxicated on U.S. 421 between Frankfort, Ky., and Midway, Ky., when he crossed the center line into oncoming traffic at about 9 p.m. Wednesday, according to a statement issued by state police.
January 14, 2008
Three University Football Players Caught Fishbowling Car
Read about it from WBIR.com
Police said they noticed the burned out license tag light. When police approached the car, they noticed smoke coming out of one of the windows and that it smelled of burned marijuana, according to the report. Police were given consent to search the car, and two marijuana cigars, one partially smoked, were found in the front part of the vehicle, police said.
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Texas
August 12, 2008
Officers Trained To Recognize Driver Drug Use
Read the news from NBC KTEN
The training not only polishes their skills on how to spot a drunk driver, it teaches them how to identify someone who has been impaired by drugs.
May 21, 2008
Drugged Truckers Drive On After Positive Test
Read the full story in the Dallas News
Tens of thousands of truckers who flunk drug tests may still be driving big rigs in violation of federal regulations, a new government investigation has found.
May 11, 2008
Students Instructed in Dangers of Driving Drugged, Drunk
Read this story in the Marshall News Messenger
And we cover all the bases of drugs and alcohol... every drug you can think of, we tell them the dangers of it." Nationwide statistics suggest younger drivers are particularly susceptible to driving under the influence.
May 7, 2008
Rotary Ponders Benefits of Drug Court
Read the whole story from the Seguin Gazette Enterprise
On a spectrum where drug and driving while intoxicated law violators will either rehabilitate themselves or go to prison, there is a large sampling in the middle that would benefit from participating in a drug court.
December 12, 2007
Injury Prevention Coalition of the South Plains works with Law to Combat Drugged and Drunk Driving
Read this story in the Lubbock Online
The coalition and its partners are encouraging all motorists in the South Plains area to drive with their headlights on all day and asking residents to leave their porch lights on all day to remember those killed by impaired drivers.
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