Blog Posts in January, 2015

Longmont man charged with 12th DUI in Colorado

A Longmont, Colorado, man was arrested this week on suspicions of what would be his 12th DUI in Colorado. According to The Longmont Times-Call, a local news publication, the 49-year-old driver had been stopped by police near Pace Street and 17th Avenue. When the officers approached the man's vehicle, they noted smelling alcohol and had the suspect perform a field sobriety test, which he ...

Could repeat offender's fatal DUI crash push lawmakers to pass felony DUI law?

One development we've been following over the past month has been a renewed push among the state legislature for a Colorado DUI felony bill. In Colorado, unless a driver hurts somebody else while driving under the influence, a DUI is treated as a misdemeanor, no matter how many times a single motorist may be charged. But a new bipartisan bill would seek to make three DUI offenses in seven years — ...

Colorado Springs man makes his vehicular homicide, DUI charges into cautionary tale for others

Colorado Springs resident Richard Littrell did not start drinking alcohol until he was 23 years old, anxious about inheriting the addictive behavior of his alcoholic father. As he himself admits to the Colorado Springs Gazette, though, the disease eventually took hold, until years of drinking beer and hard liquor led to a fatal traffic accident with Littrell behind the wheel. According to the ...

Reese Witherspoon and her husband prove a DUI doesn't have to ruin your life

The entertainment industry is in the midst of awards season, with the Oscars less than a month away. One of the favorites to take home the Academy Award for Best Actress is Reese Witherspoon, who received a slew of nominations for her role in the critically acclaimed movie "Wild." But it wasn't too long ago that Witherspoon and her husband, talent agent Jim Toth, had some wild behavior of their ...

Denver Nuggets point guard arrested for alleged DUI in Colorado

Ty Lawson, point guard for the Denver Nuggets, was arrested last Friday on suspicion of driving under the influence. Local affiliate NBC 9 News reports that Lawson was picked up on the 3400 block of Park Avenue West, just past 1 a.m. on January 23, after police found him driving 61 miles per hour on a 35 mph road. When an officer pulled over Lawson and reportedly noticed some of the telltale signs ...

Cedar City chase ends with two arrested for suspected DUI

While much of the Colorado DUI news last month was focused around the state's holiday and New Year's enforcement campaigns, one particularly noteworthy incident occurred in Cedar City just before Christmas, when a local police officer pulled over and arrested two allegedly drunk drivers , in the same vehicle, after a high-speed chase. According to local news publication Deseret News, the trouble ...

MADD gives Colorado 5 stars for DUI prevention

In its Report to the Nation 2015, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) released its ratings, on a scale of one to five stars, for each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C.'s, efforts in curbing drunk driving fatality rates. The annual rankings are announced in accordance with the group's nearly decade-long Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving, which, as its name implies, aims to both raise ...

Gov. Hickenlooper lends support to Colorado DUI felony bill

Earlier this month, we shared with you a new, though familiar, development happening in the state legislature now. A new bill, that would seek to make three Colorado DUI offenses a felony, has started to pick up steam — and while similarly proposed legislation was blocked by Democrats in the past, proponents are hoping that will change this time around. The movement received an extra boost from ...

Study: Half of fatal car accidents with young drivers caused by alcohol, marijuana

A new study conducted across nine states finds that the deaths of about half of all young drivers killed in car accidents were owed to alcohol or marijuana. The researchers, whose findings were published in the January 12 online edition of the journal Injury Epidemiology , evaluated approximately 7,200 fatal car crashes from 1999 to 2011, involving drivers between the ages of 16 and 25. Alcohol, ...

Colorado marijuana summit draws law enforcement from around the world

As one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, Colorado has become something of a test model for how the rest of the country will approach their own drug policies moving forward. While most of this observation has come from afar, law enforcement officials from around the world flocked to Colorado this week for an in-person, three-day "marijuana summit" held by the Colorado ...

Supreme Court dismisses Colorado DUI blood test appeal

In 2012, a 54-year-old man was arrested for DUI in Colorado after crashing his SUV into another car — but that charge wasn't determined on-site. While the suspect was exhibiting disoriented behavior and slurred speech at the time, officers weren't sure whether to chalk it up to drunk driving or simply the impact of the crash itself. After the man was rushed to a local hospital, a separate officer ...

How effective are breathalyzers?

While most drivers may think of breathalyzers as court-mandated devices, installed into their car against their will, the truth is that plenty of motorists voluntarily seek out and carry their own portable breathalyzers in order to test themselves before getting behind the wheel. But do these devices actually work as advertised? Or could they actually be doing more harm than good? As one Colorado ...

Proposed Colorado DUI felony bill faces resistance from police, lawmakers

As we shared with you last week, a newly proposed bill in the Colorado legislature looks to amend the state's lack of a DUI felony by mandating that any motorists charged with three DUIs in seven years — or four DUIs in their lifetime — would be charged with a Class 4 felony. The proposal garnered support from a number of lawmakers and residents within the community, who argue that felony offenses ...

Over 300 drivers arrested for alleged DUI during New Year's crackdown

Last week, we shared with you some of the early results of the Colorado State Patrol's (CSP) New Year's week anti-DUI campaign. The crackdown, combining the efforts of over 70 law enforcement agencies throughout the state, ran from Wednesday, December 31, to Monday, January 5. It is designed to identify and pull over the increased number number of drunk drivers that end-of-year celebrations ...

Colorado launches 'Good To Know' marijuana awareness campaign

Despite having been legalized for well over a year now, there is still no shortage of misinformation floating around the likes of recreational marijuana use or stoned driving. To help clear the air about these misconceptions and ensure that Coloradoans are as informed as possible about what using cannabis entails, the state government is launching a major new awareness campaign , "Good To Know." ...

Summit County woman arrested for alleged Breckenridge hit-and-run

Last week, police arrested a 24-year-old Summit County woman for her alleged involvement in a hit-and-run . The Denver Post reports that on Friday, December 26, the woman was driving through Breckenridge when she struck a 23-year-old young woman sometime between 11:20 and 11:25 p.m. The suspect then fled the scene of the accident, leaving the hurt pedestrian lying facedown in the street until she ...

New bill aims to make three Colorado DUI offenses a felony

Last year, Senate Democrats in Colorado killed a bill that would have made DUI in Colorado a felony offense, much to the surprise and chagrin of the proposed law's supporters. But now a Weld County state representative is trying again, with a new bill that, if passed, would classify a charged driver's third DUI in seven years as a class 4 felony. According to the Times Call, the proposal calls for ...

Dozens of Denver drivers cited for DUI in Colorado over New Year's

Throughout the year, the Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and other local law enforcement agencies carry out a DUI crackdown initiative, "The Heat Is On," timed around holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving, when more intoxicated motorists are likely to be out on the road. One of the biggest party nights of the year is New Year's Eve. Last year, the statewide anti-DUI campaign saw 442 residents ...