Las Vegas understands the perils of drinking and driving during Halloween holiday all too well. Numerous accidents in recent years have claimed the lives of innocent people and led to offenders convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) to be sentenced to decades in prison.
In 2012, a 42-year-old man pleaded guilty to felony DUI involving death after his car struck and killed a 12-year-old girl in the area of Sandstone Bluffs Drive and Wesley Lake Place on Halloween in 2011. While that man’s blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.06 was below the legal limit, he admitted to taking prescription pills before the incident.
Two years later, a 22-year-old man was sentenced to between seven and 20 years in prison for a DUI resulting in death after his truck struck and killed a 17-year-old mother who was on her way home from trick-or-treating with her 2-year-old son and her fiancé’s aunt and uncle. In that case, the man had a BAC of 0.103 percent, and investigators estimated that his truck was traveling at least 77 mph in a 45 mph zone near Ann Road and Coleman Street.
Both of these men are now facing up to 20 years in prison for their crimes. This is not to mention the entire of lifetime of guilt they will personally have to carry even upon their respective releases.
In recent years, Halloween has only grown in its status as one of the major drinking holidays. Considering that the evening is also a time when many children and other minors are openly roaming suburban streets as part of trick-or-treating in their neighborhoods, people who get behind the wheels of automobiles after consuming alcohol are only adding to the likelihood that they will cause or be involved in a tragedy.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) has not yet announced any specific times or locations for increased DUI enforcement efforts, but such efforts seem all but a certainty based on years past. If you are out anywhere in the Las Vegas area with plans to consume alcohol during Halloween weekend, you will want to make sure that you have alternative plans for your return home besides driving.
LVMPD not only sets up DUI checkpoints in one area of Las Vegas, but police also use “saturation teams” to patrol “hot spots” by drawing additional officers from area commands. Even if a person is fortunate enough to be arrested for drunk driving without having been in an accident resulting in the death of another person, DUI charges can still cause an enormous number of other problems that can include possible imprisonment and fines.
If you are arrested for allegedly driving drunk anywhere in Clark County, you should seek the help of an experienced Las Vegas DUI lawyer as soon as possible. Police officers are under additional pressure to file more drunk driving charges during these holidays, and this can occasionally lead to arrests being made without probable cause or sufficient evidence of intoxication.
