All but three of the 19 DUI arrests made over the long weekend in the Santa Clarita Valley involved motorists who were previously convicted of driving while intoxicated.
From Friday to Monday, officers with the Newhall-area Office of the California Highway Patrol and deputies with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station made a combined total of 59 arrests, with about a third of those being arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Sixteen of 19 drivers arrested on suspicion of DUI were drivers with prior convictions of the same offense. All but one of them was male.
In California, DUI offenses are priorable, meaning the jail sentences increase with each DUI conviction.
Prior convictions include: driving under the influence; driving with a blood/alcohol level that exceeds .08 percent and DUI with injury.
The high percentage of chronic DUI drivers seen this past Labor Day weekend stands in stark contrast with recent DUI checkpoints.
On Aug. 16, a Friday night, the CHP carried out a DUI checkpoint and stopped 400 drivers. Not a single motorist was arrested for impaired driving.
Those arrested on suspicion of DUI with priors included:
- A 46-year-old man in marketing from Palmdale.
- A “checker,” 28, from Canyon Country.
- A 23-year-old plumber from Stevenson Ranch.
- A 22-year-old Rosamond resident who works coating vehicles.
- A 23-year-old unemployed man from Canyon Country.
- A 41-year-old manager from Canyon Country.
- A 48-year-old local man with no occupation.
- A 30-year-old valet who lives in Los Angeles.
- A local man who works as a security guard, 29.
- A self-employed man from Canyon Country, 38.
- A Stevenson Ranch resident with no occupation, 18.
- A Canyon Country chef, 23.
- A number machine operator from Palmdale, 23.
- Three construction workers from Pacoima, 25, Los Angeles, 36, and Reseda, 44, respectively.
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