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Long Beach Fire Captain pleads guilty in Long Beach DUI Case

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Our Long Beach DUI Lawyers have learned that Long Beach Fire Department Capt. John David Hines pleaded guilty this morning to a DUI and hit-and-run felony case that severely injured a bicyclist, officials said.

Hines, 38, faces a sentence ranging from probation to six years and eight months in prison. He’ll return to court Dec. 2, after undergoing a 90-day diagnostic evaluation in state prison to “determine his suitability for state prison,” according to a press release from the Orange County district attorney’s office.

As part of a court-offered deal, Hines pleaded guilty to one felony count each of driving under the influence of alcohol causing bodily injury, driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent or more causing injury, hit and run with injury, and sentencing enhancements and allegations for causing great bodily injury and having a blood alcohol level over 0.20 percent.

According to prosecutors, Hines spent the morning of April 1 boozing it up at a Long Beach restaurant called Schooner or Later, then drove his truck east along Westminster Avenue in Seal Beach, where he swerved off the road and crashed into 47-year-old bicyclist Jeffrey Gordon.

Gordon was thrown more than 70 feet and landed on the shoulder of the street, according to prosecutors. The impact of the high-speed collision broke the windshield and nearly disabled Hines’ Chevy Silverado, according to witnesses who chased him, honking and screaming at him to pull over, as he drove several blocks from the crash scene to his house in Huntington Beach.

When police from Seal Beach and Huntington Beach arrived at his home, Hines reeked of alcohol, his eyes were bloodshot and the odor of urine wafted from his clothing, authorities said. The front end of his truck was spattered with blood.

His blood-alcohol level at the time was .24, three times the legal limit, authorities said. After he was booked, Hines was released on $50,000 bail and reportedly checked himself into alcohol rehab.

Gordon spent two weeks in the hospital with head trauma, severe lacerations and bruising to his head and body, internal injuries and spinal and vertebrae injuries. He continues to suffer limited physical mobility and speech and memory loss, prosecutors said.

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Orange County DUI Checkpoints:

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Seal Beach Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI and drivers license checkpoint on Friday, July 29 at the intersection of 1st Street and PCH between 6:00pm and 3:00am.

Although the Seal Beach Police Department claims that DUI checkpoints are a proven effective method to apprehend drunk drivers, statistics say that roving saturation patrols are much more effective.  The Seal Beach Police Department says that drivers will be checked to ensure that they have a valid driver’s license, and the impounds fees from persons driving without a valid license, are a significant source of revenue for law enforcement, according to UC Berkeley.

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Orange County DUI Checkpoints: Huntington Beach

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Our Orange County DUI lawyers have learned that Huntington Beach Police will hold a DUI checkpoint Saturday night in an effort to prevent the number of injuries and accidents that are a result of drunken driving.

Officers will hold the checkpoint at 9 p.m. at an undisclosed location, according to the department’s Facebook page.

The checkpoint is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic and Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Officers and volunteers from MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) will also be educating the public as part of the sobriety checkpoint.

Orange County DUI Checkpoints: Costa Mesa

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Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers have learned that the Costa Mesa Police Department conducted a yet another DUI Checkpoint on Saturday, February 26, 2011, (even though they had just had one on February 24, 2011), as part of the Police Department’s insistence that DUI checkpoints, which are much, much less effective than saturation patrols, will make a difference in DUI statistics.  Unfortunately, they were proven wrong yet again.

DUI checkpoints are about the money, and substantial funding from state and federal sources, impound fees, and MADD, are paid to police agencies for DUI checkpoints, (mainly for officer overtime), and not used towards other more statistically effective efforts.  As a result, despite powerful national publicity from MADD on the dangers of driving under the influence, the Costa Mesa Police Department is justifying the heavy number of DUI checkpoints as “education”.

This checkpoint was one of many that have been or will be conducted throughout the year in Costa Mesa.  The location of Saturday’s checkpoint was on Newport Boulevard at Flower Street.  Let’s look at the numbers:
1729 Vehicles through the checkpoint
726  Vehicles Screened
4  Drivers given field sobriety tests
1  DUI Suspects Arrested
2 Other Arrests
26  Driver’s license investigations
21  Citations issued
1  Recovered stolen vehicle
9 Vehicles towed

A weather note:  This checkpoint was hampered by cold temperatures, rain and hail.  If you have any questions for our Orange County DUI Lawyers, contact us at (949) 682-5316.

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Costa Mesa DUI Checkpoint tonight, January 7, 2011

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have a hot tip that Costa Mesa police will conduct a DUI checkpoint Friday night on 17th Street.

From 6 to 11 p.m., police will be stationed at 17th Street and Raymond Avenue, stopping drivers to see if they’re under the influence of drugs or alcohol or have a valid driver’s license.

Police consider checkpoints an educational tool, rather than effective enforcement against DUIs.  Saturation patrols are much more effective, but substantial funding from the Federal Government, the State’s Department of Traffic Safety, and MADD go towards checkpoints, mainly for officer overtime, not the more effective saturation patrols.

Costa Mesa is ranked 20th on the list of California cities with the most DUIs, police said. In all, police have arrested more than 3,800 people in Costa Mesa on suspicion of driving under the influence since 2008.

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Orange County DUI Checkpoints scheduled before New Year’s Eve

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From 12:01 AM Friday December 17, 2010 through Midnight Wednesday, December 29, 2010, preliminary numbers show that officers representing Orange County law enforcement agencies have arrested 407  individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

For Thursday, December 30th, the Seal Beach Police Department has a DUI Saturation Patrol planned.  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will be conducting a DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint in the City of Laguna Hills.  All regularly scheduled traffic and patrol officers will continue to focus their efforts on stopping and arresting DUI drivers during their normal shifts.

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Orange County Memorial Day DUI Checkpoint Locations

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Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have received a request from the OC Sheriff’s Department to help spread the word about their Memorial Day Weekend Schedule of Operations, including both DUI checkpoints and Roving Patrols.

DUI Checkpoints:

FRIDAY, May 28:

Orange County Sheriff’s Department (City of Laguna Woods)

Brea Police Department

La Habra Police Department

In addition, the Huntington Beach PD is conducting their own DUI Checkpoint, at Pacific Coast Highway at Huntington Street, City of Huntington Beach on  May 29, 2010, starting at 9pm.

Saturation Patrols:

FRIDAY – MONDAY, May 28-31:  The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will conduct DUI Roving Patrols in their south contract cities.

DUI Roving Patrols will also be conducted by police in the following cities:

Anaheim,

Buena Park,

Fountain Valley,

Fullerton,

Irvine,

La Habra,

Orange,

Placentia,

Seal Beach,

Tustin,

Westminster

UCI Campus police.

Contact:     For more information contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Department Public Affairs Office at (714) 647-7042.  And, if you have questions for a DUI Specialist Orange County, call me at (714) 568-1560.

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DUI Checkpoints in Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, for Valentine’s Day Weekend

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Law enforcement teams will be out in force this Saturday night watching for drunk drivers and more. The CHP, Seal Beach Police Department, SBPD, the Los Alamitos Police Department, LAPD, and the Orange County Sherriff Department, OCSD, will all participate in DUI enforcement. In West Orange County alone, there will be two checkpoints on PCH.

SBPD will man a checkpoint from 7:00 PM Saturday night, until 3:00 am Sunday morning, on Southbound PCH at First Street. About 3 or 4 miles to the South, the CHP will intercept any Northbound PCH traffic at Andersen in Sunset Beach. The CHP checkpoint, which will be staffed by 7 officers, will operate during the same hours.

According to Sergeant Steve Bowles, SBPD, it is a coincidence that both agencies are planning checkpoints at the same time on PCH. The CHP and SBPD did not coordinate these two operations, but Bowls said SBPD decided to set up their checkpoint Southbound at First because it is a safe area to operate and is several miles from the CHP checkpoint on the northbound traffic.

According to Captain McAlpine of the LAPD, Los Alamitos will help staff the Seal Beach checkpoint, but will not operate their own. “They requested some help from us and we are going to utilize our motor officer to assist them with their checkpoint.”

OCSD will conduct DUI roving patrols in the cities of Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills and Laguna Woods tonight, February 12, 2010. These Multi-City DUI teams will target areas that have a high incidence of DUI-related arrests and collisions.

SBPD’s St. Bowls told our Orange County DUI Lawyers that these DUI checkpoints are designed to apprehend drunk drivers, but also to call public attention to the dangers of driving under the influence. The SBPD does not attempt to conceal the time and locations of the checkpoints because they want to call attention to the issues. Caltrans requires warning signs of lane closures well ahead of any checkpoint and law enforcement authorities are required to publicize them in advance.

SBPD last operated a checkpoint on New Years Eve. Bowls said they can get as many as 9 or 10 drunk driving arrests at a typical checkpoint, but none were arrested on New Years Eve. They also check drivers licenses at these checkpoints and four people were taken into custody on outstanding warrants at the last checkpoint

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Costa Mesa DUI Checkpoint December 29, 2009

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Another one of the Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations for this holiday season has been revealed, this time in Costa Mesa, and on a Tuesday (not on New Year’s Eve):

The Costa Mesa Police Department will be conducting a sobriety / driver license checkpoint on Tuesday, December 29, 2009, from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. The checkpoint will be located northbound Santa Ana Avenue, at 18th Street.

This is Costa Mesa Police Department’s second checkpoint associated with California’s 18 Day Holiday DUI Crackdown Campaign. By the end of the campaign, law enforcement agencies will have deployed 300 DUI/Drivers License Checkpoints statewide. Funding for the special enforcement campaign, which concludes January 3, 2010, comes from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, with volunteer assistance provided by MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving).

Orange County DUI arrests were headed down again this year, until the State approved this all out 300 checkpoint holiday sweep, to bring stats up, for law enforcement funding. Looks like this might be the only up year in a 10 year decline in all crimes, especially DUI.

Brought to you by the Orange County DUI Lawyers of Robert Miller and Associates. Call if you have any questions related to this DUI checkpoint.

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