Drunk Driving

An egregious case of drunk driving in St. Cloud, FL, shows a need for aggressive prosecution for repeat offenders in DUI/DWI situations. The Florida driver was sentenced to 11 years in prison after a fifth DUI violation resulted in a fatality. This case draws the attention of those who know how devastating DUI behaviors can be for those who are sharing the road with drunk or impaired drivers.
Read more…

A humorous and ostensibly harmless trend among some Florida motorcycle riders has also shown a troublesome and negligent side. Recently, law enforcement officials have caught a number of Florida riders operating their bikes without any clothes on. Naked motorcycle riding might present a hazard for distracted drivers, but in some cases these riders are operating their bikes under the influence of alcohol and that is a far greater concern. According to Ocala police, the first incident occurred in mid-September when an officer pulled over a drunken rider.

The police say they noticed the naked rider early one morning on I75 and pulled him over for running a red light. The 45-year-old rider admitted that he had been drinking and a breathalyzer returned blood alcohol levels of .178 and .162-both dangerously over Florida’s legal limit of 0.08. The naked rider told police he had been drinking at a local restaurant. Police found a shirt and shawl hanging around the motorcycle’s handlebars and requested that the rider wear them. Records indicated that this drunken driving conviction was the rider’s fifth offense.

Read more…

A man accused of hitting and killing a motorcyclist while driving drunk has entered a not guilty plea to DUI manslaughter charges. This article in the Sun Sentinel reports that the man has a long history of negligent behavior behind the wheel, including a hit-and-run accident, drunk driving convictions, high-speed police chases and many traffic citations. By the time the 31-year-old man was arrested in Miramar in September 2009 and charged with killing a motorcyclist while driving under influence of alcohol, there was a warrant for his arrest in connection with two DUI cases in Maryland.

The September 8, 2009, drunk driving accident resulted in two counts of DUI manslaughter, two counts of DUI property damage and one count of child neglect against the Miramar man. The man was reportedly driving his fiancé’s nine-year-old daughter to school that morning on Pembroke Road when he struck and killed a 43-year-old Davie man. According to arrest records released by Maryland prosecutors, it wasn’t the man’s first arrest for causing an accident while driving drunk.

Read more…