Colorado
June 21, 2008
Drug Court "Saves" Woman's Life
Read this interview from the Vail Daily
She was arrested in 2004 when the steering column fell out of a car she driving over a bridge in New Castle. Police searched a car and found painkillers and drug paraphernalia that Marriott says didn’t belong to her.
May 21, 2008
Sleeping Pill DUI's a Growing Threat
Read more from Fox 21
Police in Colorado Springs and across the state are seeing a huge increase in impaired drivers, not from alcohol, but from sleeping pills.
April 28, 2008
Drug Recognition Experts Train to Identify Signs of Drug Abuse
Read this story in the Vail Daily
Avon police provided the beer, wine and hard liquor to residents. In return, residents let police officers use them for their training to become “drug recognition experts.” Experts are taught to spot signs that a person is under the influence of alcohol, heroin, methamphetamine, ecstasy, PCP, marijuana and other drugs.
January 17, 2008
Cocaine Binger Leads Police on Chase to Inevitable Crash
Read the whole story in the Vail Daily
A drunken man who had also taken cocaine led police on a high-speed chase and rolled his girlfriend's car 40 feet down an embankment Thursday night, said Sgt. Greg Daly of the Eagle County Sheriff's Office.
September 19, 2007
This is a map of the nation and its states' policies on drugs, including Drugged Driving statutes.
from the Denver Post
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Illinois
June 10, 2008
Drugger Rolls Car, Causing Injury
Read this news in the Naperville Sun
A young Bolingbrook man was reputedly under the influence of narcotics when he caused a rollover traffic crash over the weekend on Naperville's far southwest side, police reports indicated.
May 12, 2008
Driving On Cannabis, Cocaine, Methamphetamine, Benzodiazepines and Opiates, Woman Kills Idling Motorist
Read the whole piece in the Register Mail
According to police reports, Mahnesmith, 34, 334 S. Pearl St., was driving a family member’s car to the store around 10:45 a.m. Friday. The vehicle left the roadway in the 200 block of Allens Avenue and struck a parked car in the driveway at 246 Allens Ave., killing Madge G. Gossage, 75, also known as Madge L. Stancomb, who was in the driver’s seat. Mahnesmith was apprehended a short time later after fleeing the area on foot.
May 11, 2008
Drug Testing Chief Fired For Negligence, Hundreds of Truckers Not Tested for Drugs
Read the story in the Chicago Sun Times
The longtime chief of the City of Chicago's drug testing program is being fired for inadvertently excluding more than 800 truck drivers from the pool of city employees who must undergo random tests for alcohol and drugs.
May 4, 2008
Football Star Face Consequences of Driving High in College
Read the whole story from the Chicago Tribune
According to a Fayetteville police report, Harrison stopped at a gas station and bought drugs from a man he had never met, he later admitted. When police pulled over Harrison a few minutes later for speeding, they smelled marijuana smoke as he rolled down the window of his gray Chevy Caprice.
April 24, 2008
Drugged Driver Runs Jogging Teen Over, Killing Him
Read the full account in the Chicago Tribune
For months, relatives of Alonzo de la Torre have pleaded for jail time in the case against the driver who fatally struck him as he jogged along a Round Lake Beach road in January. A Lake County judge found that misdemeanor charges related to the incident—plus an apparent positive drug test just before the hearing—violated the terms of her probation in another case.
November 1, 2007
High Teen Driver charged with killing four teens
Read the full story in the Northwest Herald
Prosecutors say 24-year-old Fakir Muhammad Jaffrie of Crystal Lake was high on marijuana when he lost control of his car and hit a tree Sept. 8 in northern Hampshire Township, killing his four passengers.
October 28, 2007
Police recognize growing threat of Drugged Drivers
Read the story in the Kane County Chronicle
When police suspect that someone is driving drunk, they usually can tell by the odor of alcohol or by using a Breathalyzer. When someone has been using drugs and drives, it’s just as dangerous, but law enforcement has fewer options.
“You don’t have the smell, but you still have the impairment,” said Cmdr. Joe Frega of the Geneva Police Department.
September 13, 2007
Drugged, Drunk, Driving: Deadly combination for more youths
Click Here for the full article from The Daily Herald
Prosecutors believe Thomas Ofenloch Jr. was drunk and high on marijuana when he crashed his car into a tree near Sugar Grove on Aug. 4, 2007.
It turns out his passengers -- both of whom were killed -- also were above the .08 legal threshold for intoxication and had pot in their systems, according to toxicology results
September 11, 2007
Drugged Driving behind a disastrous wreck.
Read the article from the Daily Herald
A year ago, Alice Hans' minivan was hit by a vehicle that had crossed the center line into her lane. The 54-year-old was in a coma for two weeks, was on a ventilator and has endured three surgeries so far. The immediate post-crash reaction focused on a typical problem: speeding. But a less obvious factor in the Aug. 30, 2006, crash came to light months later when the driver was charged with driving under the influence of marijuana.
September 10, 2007
Officers trained to detect Drugged Drivers
Read the full article from The Daily Herald
A new car sat with its grille wrapped around a fire hydrant in Woodridge. An unconscious, well-dressed, 47-year-old man from Glen Ellyn was slumped inside. "Heart attack", Sgt. Bruce Talbot thought.
Then he saw the crack pipe between the man's legs.
The man was one of tens of thousands of drugged drivers estimated to be on roads across the country daily.
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Iowa
May 30, 2008
Man on Dog's Drugs Crashes SUV
Read this story in the Globe Gazette
Des Moines man who was arrested for driving while intoxicated apparently took his dog’s pills by mistake. Authorities say that Clarence Fenton had phenobarbital in his system when he crashed his sport utility vehicle into a utility pole last November. It took several months for the results of the blood tests that showed the drug in Fenton’s system.
December 12, 2007
The Fiduciary Costs of Impaired Driving
Read more in the Sun
The Department of Education federal Grant to Reduce Alcohol Abuse received this year by Mount Vernon School District has a goal to reduce underage drinking and binge drinking among our teens. As the community efforts toward this goal really start this month, it is interesting that December is also National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention month.
October 25, 2007
Impaired Driver crashes into Squad Car
Read this story in the WCF Courier
A police squad car was totaled this morning after an officer heading to an alarm collided with an alleged drunk driver. The collision happened around 1:40 a.m. at San Marnan Drive and La Porte Road when Officer Jeremy Pohl was responding to an alarm at Best Buy.
Police also found a pill container with marijuana and as wooden box with marijuana and a metal pipe, records state.
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Kansas
February 13, 2008
Amanda's Law Seeks Drug Tests for Drivers Involved in Fatal Accidents
Read this story in the Basehor Sentinel
Amanda’s Law (named after Amanda Bixby who was killed Feb. 14, 2007) calls for implied consent for drug testing following a serious or fatality accident. The people of Kansas should have a reasonable expectation of protection from people using illegal drugs.
January 24, 2008
Parents of Crash Victim Beg State to make Drug Testing Mandatory
Read this story from the Prime Buzz
Tonganoxie parents, Denise and Dennis Bixby, whose daughter, Amanda, died in a car-wreck, urged lawmakers this week to add drug tests to the required alcohol tests whenever there is a serious accident.
December 5, 2007
Institute for Behavior and Health Launches Website to raise awareness of Drugged Driving Epidemic
See what the Kansas City InfoZine has to say about the Launch Event
The Institute for Behavior and Health launched druggeddriving.org this month to help stop the problem. The Web site includes research, treatments and prevention.
"The bottom line is the lack of public awareness," said Robert DuPont, the institute's president. The institute is a nonprofit policy group that works to reduce substance abuse.
November 10, 2007
Kansas considers requiring drug tests at fatal accidents
Learn more from the Lawrence Journal World
A legislative committee on Friday recommended a bill that would require drug testing using an oral swab at motor vehicle accident scenes where there was an injury or a death.
The lawmakers are reacting to several recent fatal traffic accidents in which people who caused the wrecks were not tested for drug use.
October 12, 2007
Family of Drugged Driver sues Police
-Read the story in the Arkansas City Traveler
A suit has been filed in federal court against the Arkansas City Police Department and several other defendants in connection with the 2005 death of Jerad Moore, a 24-year-old Ark City man who died after being arrested and jailed for driving under the influence of drugs.
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Minnesota
May 16, 2008
Hockey Player On Double Strict Probation after String of Impaired Driving Crashes
Read more in the Star Tribune
On Sept. 11, according to court documents, Hagemo drove his pickup truck into a parked car on Lyndale Avenue, appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs and fought paramedics as they tried to put him on a gurney.
Paramedics also told police that he had track marks on his arms, possibly from using needles. Medical staff at the hospital where Hagemo was taken said he had taken heroin three days ago. On advice of counsel, he refused blood and urine tests.
April 1, 2008
Man Arrested for Driving On Meth, with Child in the Car
Read this story from MyFox Twin Cities
A 38-year-old St. Paul man is facing four charges for driving under the influence of methamphetamine with his 12-year-old son in the vehicle.
February 28, 2008
Man Rolls Explorer After Getting High, Charged with DUI of Drugs in Court
Read the story in the Winona Daily News
A Winona man was high on marijuana when he rolled his car in October, injuring two passengers, Winona County District Court documents allege. Lonnie Alexander Sigmon, 22, was charged Tuesday
February 23, 2008
Meth Dealer Caught Driving High
Read this story in the Worthington Daily Globe
As a result of the traffic stop, 35-year-old Shantelle Marie Germundson, Minneota, was arrested and charged with fourth- and fifth-degree controlled substance and driving while impaired. She possessed meth in her purse, which it is believed she allegedly intended to sell. She was allegedly driving with meth in her system.
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Missouri
August 5, 2008
Drug Addiction Follows Boomers into Later Years
Read this article from the South East Missourian
Nationally, substance abuse treatment programs saw a greater growth in patients aged 55-plus than any other demographic in 2002. Drug admissions among those age 55 and older increased by 106 percent for men and 119 percent for women between 1995 and 2002. The number of older adults in need of treatment is expected to double from the estimated 1.7 million in 2002 to 4.4 million in 2020, according to the SAMSHA.
March 6, 2008
Ignition Interlock Fails to Stop Drugged Driver from Killing U Missouri Professor
Read all about it in the Columbia Tribune
The interlock device tests the driver’s breath for alcohol before allowing the vehicle to start. But Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers who interviewed Downs on the day of the wreck at University Hospital found he had been using marijuana, cocaine and prescription drugs before the Feb. 22 collision. None of those intoxicants is measured by the interlock device.
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Nebraska
November 30, 2007
Nebraska sees rising threat from Drugged Drivers
Read the story from Nebraska TV.com
Officials are seeing different situations of drunk and drugged driving, sometimes with the same tragic results. The number of alcohol-related fatal crashes also increased. For families hurt by these tragedies, they can last a life time.
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North Dakota
December 14, 2007
December is National Drugged and Drunk Driving Prevention Month
Learn more from KFYR-TV
Local highway patrol, law enforcement, EMS and Community Action Coalition are taking part in the national 3-D month campaign. That stands for National Drunk, Drugged, and Driving Prevetion.
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Oklahoma
October 18, 2007
Oklahoma Highway Patrol on the lookout for Drugged and
Drunk Drivers
Read the full account from the McAlester News-Capital
“Highway 69 is deadly,” Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Jeff Sewell said. “In our six-county area, the number one most deadly spot is the stretch of highway from McAlester to Kiowa.
Troopers are seeing drug- or alcohol-impaired people driving on nearly every shift and they want it to stop. Sewell said he worked one drunk driving case where the people were so “wiped out they couldn’t remember who was driving and they could barely stand up.”
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South Dakota
August 5, 2008
Drug Impaired Driving Arrests Down at Sturgis
Read the news from KXMC
Figures from the South Dakota Highway Patrol indicate drug and drunken driving arrests are down so far at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. But the total number of citations is up over last year.
October 15, 2007
South Dakota Law Enforcement training to identify Drugged Drivers
Watch this story on Keloland.comSouth Dakota Law Enforcement officers are becoming more equipped to deal with drivers under the influence of drugs other than alcohol.
There's a two-week training course for officers called the Drug Recognition Expert program. It's intended to help officers identify which category of drug a driver is on when pulled over. That way, even if an impaired driver passes a Breathalyzer, it doesn't mean he or she is getting away without a DUI.
October 14, 2007
Drugged Trucker runs off the Interstate
Read all about it from Keloland.com
Highway Patrol troopers say drugs were probably part of the reason the driver of a semi drove off of Interstate 29 and into a ditch early Sunday morning.
It happened south of Sioux Falls, around mile marker 55, just before 7 a.m. not far from the Beresford exit.
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Wisconsin
August 4, 2008
Drug Driver Awaiting Drunken Driving Sentence Kills Three
Read this story in the HTR News
Sophia was killed April 25 in Oconomowoc when Mark Benson — a drug-impaired driver with three drunken driving convictions, the third just two days before the accident — allegedly struck the car in which the unborn child was riding, killing her and two other members of the family.
May 21, 2008
Repeat Rx Drugged Driver Alters Her Ways
Watch this story from TMJ 4
She was arrested three times for driving under the influence, but now she's changed her ways. She tells us what she thinks it would take to stop impaired drivers from getting behind the wheel.
May 13, 2008
Family of Slain Mother and Child Petitions for Drugged, Drunk Driving Ban
Read the full story from TMJ 4
An Oconomowoc educator, her unborn child and young daughter were killed in a crash earlier this month. Police say a man with a history of drug and alcohol problems was behind the wheel.
May 1, 2008
Drugged Driver Kills Pregnant Woman, Daughter in Tragic Crash
Read this story from the Journal Sentinel Online
By the time he got behind the wheel of his Cadillac sport utility vehicle last Friday, he was driving with no insurance, no valid license and, authorities say, on a mix of sleep aids and anti-depressants. He was headed to his Oconomowoc pharmacy for more drugs.
January 29, 2008
Doper Gets Five Years in Prison for 2005 Drugged Driving Death
Read the proceedings in the Journal Sentinel
A 23-year-old Lake Geneva man was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday under the state's drugged driving law for causing a 2005 accident that killed an 80-year-old Waterford woman.
Brent O. Ehret set the avoidable tragedy in motion when he smoked marijuana and then got behind the wheel of his car, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Lee S. Dreyfus Jr. said.
January 18, 2008
Drugged Driving Woman Breaks Bail Conditions, Faces Tough Penalties
Read this story in the Post Crescent
A woman convicted of drugged driving was put on notice Thursday by a Calumet County judge that her troubles will worsen if she fails to get her life in order.
December 20, 2007
Manitowoc Police Department Arrests 233 for Impaired Driving
Read about these efforts in the Manitowoc Herald
In an effort to raise awareness of the risks associated with driving after drinking or using drugs, he said December has been designated National Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Month. In accordance with this, the MPD is asking the community to avoid driving while they are under the influence of alcohol or drugs, to stop others from driving in an impaired condition and to increase community awareness of the issue.
December 12, 2007
26% of U Wisconsin Students Admit to Driving Impaired
Read the report from the Royal Purple
According to the 2007 Alcohol and Other Drug Use Survey of UW-Whitewater students, 26 percent have driven while under the influence of alcohol within the last year, 10 percent have ridden with a driver who was intoxicated, and two percent said they have been arrested for driving while intoxicated.
November 3, 2007
Amethyst Candles Adorn Drugged/Drunk Driving Vigil
Read this piece from Greater Milwaukee Today
"In Waukesha County, when I get a call from a law enforcement agency that someone has been killed or hurt in an accident, it usually ends up having drugs or alcohol involved," District Attorney Brad Schimel said. "Right now it’s amateur month."
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Wyoming
June 4, 2008
Lusk Judiciary Committee Discusses Impaired Driving
Read the report from the Lusk Herald Online
Traditionally, alcohol has been the drug of choice for impaired drivers. Recently, Wyoming has experienced an increase of drug (non-alcohol) impaired driving. Law enforcement officers now have access to the tools to combat this problem. However, Wyoming’s DUI statute allows users of some substances to drive impaired with relative impunity because the definition of controlled substance does not include all routes of administration into the body, nor does it include all psychoactive substances.
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