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Jummel Hidrosollo / Special to the Home News
Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Robert Mayer directs traffic at the DUI checkpoint on the corner of Flamingo and Lindell roads. The checkpoint was setup Sunday to nab intoxicated drivers after the Super Bowl.
Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009 | 10:19 p.m.
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By the time the final whistle blew at the end of Super Bowl 43, police officers from Las Vegas and Henderson were already on the lookout for fans who might have celebrated a little too hard before getting behind the wheel. The Metropolitan and Henderson police departments teamed up Sunday to conduct a DUI checkpoint after the game near the corner of Flamingo and Lindell roads in an effort to keep drunk drivers off the roads.
By 8 p.m., a long line of cars returning from the Strip was making its way through the checkpoint and five individuals had been arrested and charged with drunk driving. The checkpoint was scheduled to run through 2 a.m. Monday and a final arrest tally is expected to be released later this week.
Metro Police Sgt. Stewart Emry said the location was chosen because Flamingo sees a high number of vehicle accidents – alcohol-related or otherwise.
One motorist tried to escape in his vehicle, but officers pulled him over further down the street.
“The Super Bowl is synonymous with drinking,” Emry said. “People party and have a great time, and then they tell themselves ‘I’ll risk it.’ And that’s why we’re out here.”
When a vehicle stops at the checkpoint, the first step in the process is verbal communication with the driver, Henderson Police Officer Leon Farmer said.
“We try to smell their breath and look in their eyes to see if they’re bloodshot or watery,” he said. “We also catch people when they’re trying to switch drivers.”
Drivers suspected of being impaired were asked to leave their car and walk to a nearby field station while an officer parked their vehicle around the corner. The motorist would then be put through field sobriety and breath tests. Anyone with a blood-alcohol level higher than 0.08 percent was arrested and charged with driving under the influence.
First-time DUI offenders typically end up paying approximately $10,000 in legal fees and fines, Emry said.
“You’ll lose your license for 90 days and you could spend anywhere from 10 days to 30 days in jail,” he said.
People who have been drinking, Emry said, have plenty of options when faced with the question of how to get home.
“Take a bus, get a cab or have a designated driver,” he said. “If you jump behind the wheel, you risk getting caught or getting in an accident and killing someone.”
When asked if he had any advice for drivers, Farmer was quick to respond.
“It costs $50 for a cab ride anywhere in town, but a DUI will cost you thousands of dollars,” Farmer said. “It’s just not worth it.”
Jeff O’Brien can be reached at 990-8957 or jeff.obrien@hbcpub.com.
pishposh The cops have a right to stop drunk-drivers because we have a "right" to drive on policed highways and streets. Their obligation is to protect and serve. We sober drivers expect police to remove drunks from the road. If they need to conduct a sobriety check-point, more power to them
Next will be drivers talking on cell phones. Heinous crime.
Then texting while driving. Off to the slammer.
Then eating while driving. Burger wrappers used as evidence in court.
It has been estimated that talking on a cell phone while driving is the equivalent of having drunk 5 beers.
You holier than thou's don't realize that it's all about fines and profits for the courts and the cops. 10 Grand for a first offense? The loafers found a great way to support sitting in Tahoes, passing the day doing nothing. Can you imagine what's next-Mothers against Gabbing on Cell Phones? Mothers against Overweight Drivers? Somehow, I think this will be a while later....
nednougat, if you seriously think a DUI is equal to talking on the phone while driving, I think you are drunk right now.
50,000+ die annually from alcohol related accidents, I guess you were too drunk to realize that.
I wish the media would check that "first-time DUI offenders typically end up paying approximately $10,000 in legal fees and fines" line before publishing it. I happen to know for a fact that is not true in every instance. In some cases, a first-time DUI can cost as "little" as $2,000 or $3,000.
I realize the cops use that figure to try and scare people out of drinking and driving, but the newspaprs shouldn't use it as fact.
Hey, Getalife-
"Despite the fact that it deadens a driver's reactions more than alcohol, and in its consequence is as destructive and devastating as drunk driving, attitudes to driving while using a hand-held mobile phone and driving under the influence could not be more different."
Boston Globe June 5, 2008.
Getalife, loser...
Hey, getalife, are you referring to 50,000 dying annually worldwide? Because altogether in the US, I don't think there are 50,000 driving fatalities each year, including speeding, light running, pedestrian deaths, drunk driving, etc. I think your figures are high if you are speaking about the US.
bullmoose556, numbers for victims are right on.
ned, put down the hashpipe, the numbers aren't even close. The article you quote is based on opinion not annual data.
You can drink all you want and get as stoned as you want and then drive and when bad things happen (if you live), you can bitch and whine about how the laws aren't fair and you were set-up or singled out.
PINHEAD
Checkpoints are legal because the cops tell people areas where they'll be (often posted through newspapers, news channels, etc). Additionally, if you are sober you have nothing to fear. If you've only had a little to drink as in A beer, nothing to fear. If you've been drinking or binging, then this gives you something to fear. As for cells and driving...
Well if the poo hits the fan while driving, I can drop my phone, stop the conversation, something. I can't see that there's traffic while I'm drunk and say, oh I'll stop being drunk so I can get through traffic.
Don't defend these losers who put people's lives at risk over having too many drinks.
Red, good post
thanks, drunk driving is definitely on my stypid idiot things to do list. People who make excuses for them, or try to stop cops from stopping these losers are almost in the same category as them.
All this debate over the 'numbers' ....I'd say even ONE is one too many.
"...put down the hashpipe..."
Hey hey hey! Pass that sucker first, dude!
People who drive are asking to be caught. Don't drive drunk, and you don't get caught driving drunk. See how easy that is?
There IS data available that indicates cell phone use is AT LEAST as dangerous as drunk driving. And I in no way shape or form condone DUI. Driving while on the phone COMPETENTLY is apparently a rare talent. It seems Most of us folks need to focus ALL THEIR ATTENTION on the road, and often that still isn't enough.