Hundreds of drug drivers snared by police roadside test campaign, police reveal

 News from Great Britain.....

A police campaign to target drug drivers caught more than 900 motorists who were under the influence of illegal drugs last month.

The Christmas campaign used new powers and roadside testing kits to launch a crackdown on drivers who take to the wheel after using cannabis, cocaine and other substances.

Officers used 1,888 drug screening devices during December with 931 showing positive results for drugs - or almost 50 per cent.

New legislation, which covers 17 legal and illegal drugs, and the roll-out of drug detection devices to all forces has made it easier to identify and prosecute drug drivers, the NPCC said.

 Read the full story at:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12124735/Hundreds-of-drug-drivers-snared-by-police-roadside-test-campaign-police-reveal.html

Somebody is banned from a bar!

The Cleveland Daily Banner reports that Joel Echols was arrested for driving into a bar twice....literally driving into the bar. He faces a bunch of charges including DUI. The story includes this paragraph:

"The deputy’s reports said that Echols, after driving the truck into the bar, left the scene on foot, where he
was apprehended. Wagner’s report said Echols admitted to driving the truck into the building “for
entertainment,” and further investigation led to information that the truck belonged to Echols’ girlfriend."

Read the complete story at:

http://clevelandbanner.com/stories/man-drives-pickup-truckthrough-charleston-bar,26624

Fatalities

The daily traffic report indicates we have lost 26 people on our roads this year. Twenty Three of the deceased are listed in TITAN. Those we have lost are:

Bobby Stills, 77, Greeneville

Jack Henshaw, 61, Knoxville

Robert Arruda, 24, Etowah  Victim of hit and run

Antoniece Padgett, 22, Chattanooga

Antonio Marbury, 26, Chattanooga (passenger)

Robert Osgood, 67, Fayetteville

William Markum,  67, Dunlap

Kayla Bryanton, 20, Murfreesboro

Anthony Jenkins, 56, Westmoreland

Thomas Gerson, 62, Old Hickory

Lori Hollingsworth, 35, Lebanon

Michael Drake, 52, Madison  Pedestrian, victim of hit and run

Anthony Majares, 58, Smyrna

Brenda Cecil, 54,  Nashville

Mary Tarlecky, 92, Dickson

Andre Wright, 31, Clarksville

James Bates, 47, Nunnelly

Izhar, Morfin, 17, Bowling Green, Ky, passenger

Tiffany Woodlin, 27, Dyersburg  (driver)

Roytez McClellan, 15, Michigan City, Ms

Jaquayveon Evans, 13, Ashland, Ms (passenger)

Otis Mayfield, 27, Munford

Sara Chow, 19, Cordova

Jeffrey Thomas, 55, Southhaven, Ms

Eduardo Sosa, 35, Memphis

Please remember all. They are not statistics. They are family and friends, who will be sorely missed.

2015 Traffic Fatalities in Tennessee Third Lowest Since 1963

Wednesday, January 13, 2016 | 11:57am

Tennessee Highway Patrol Releases State-Wide Figures

NASHVILLE --- The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security announced the number of traffic fatalities in 2015 is the third lowest annual figure in Tennessee since 1963. The 2015 traffic fatality numbers are reported by all Tennessee law enforcement agencies to the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP).

Preliminary figures indicate there were 965 vehicular deaths on Tennessee roadways in 2015. In 1963, there were 941 deaths. The 2015 fatality number includes 112 pedestrians and 10 pedal cyclists.

From 1964 to 2010, Tennessee averaged 1,234 deaths on roadways. Over the 46 year period, 1973 was the most tragic year, totaling 1,444 traffic deaths. From 2011 to 2015 under Governor Bill Haslam’s administration, the five year annual traffic fatality average has been 971, with those five years making up five of the six lowest years since 1963.

Nationwide preliminary figures indicate an increase of about 15 percent in 2015 compared to 2014.

“We are making great strides in reducing traffic fatalities with our data driven enforcement initiatives, public awareness efforts, and special programs,” Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said. “Our top goal continues to be the reduction of traffic fatalities. We are committed to enforcing our traffic laws and saving lives.”

THP Colonel Tracy Trott said state troopers’ commitment to enforcing DUI, seat belt, and distracted driving traffic laws is producing results. State troopers arrested 7,805 individuals on suspicion of DUI in 2015 and cited 114,047 individuals for not wearing their seat belts. Subsequently, there was a 20.9 percent drop in alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2015 in Tennessee and a 3 percent drop in the percent of fatalities involving unrestrained motorists compared to 2014.

“Our focus and commitment to traffic enforcement and citicens’ safety are making a difference in Tennessee,” Trott said. “We are making great progress in reducing fatal incidents on Tennessee roadways, but we know there is more work needing to be done, and we are even more committed to citizens’ safety than ever before. We encourage Tennesseans to make safe choices. Buckle up, don’t drive impaired and don’t text while driving because we care.”

The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s (www.TN.Gov/safety) mission is to serve, secure, and protect the people of Tennessee

First alcohol and drug related fatality of year kills driver

A search on the Tennessee Integrated Traffic Analysis Network (Titan) shows that we have had our first alcohol and drug related traffic fatality of the year on Monday, January 11th. The suspect driver, 31, died in the crash in Clarksville, when he ran into a 68 year old driver.

 

Nashville on National Title night

A lot of people were watching a very good football game Monday night. Alabama and Clemson were very well coached and hard working teams. They aspired to greatness and found themselves in an epic battle for a championship. They worked very hard to get to their place in life.

Meanwhile,  six people were being arrested for DUI in Nashville. They were on our roads endangering our lives. They were selfish people more interested in their pleasure than your safety.
 Three of the six arrested were driving after consuming drugs. The drugs involved were:

Marijuana and black tar Heroin,
Suboxone and
Alprazolam.

Three other people were drinking alcohol. One refused testing. Another had a .09 b.a.c. and the third a .22.
Two were in crashes.
Two were female.

The DUI population on Monday is consistent with what we have been seeing statistically over the last year:
50-60 of our lab tests stop after defining alcohol as the culprit.
The other cases show the most common drugs identified include alprazolam and marijuana.

Heroin and suboxone are on the rise as impairing drugs effecting driving.

Read more about these drugs in our latest edition of the DUI NEWS at:   http://dui.tndagc.org

What's Wrong with Us in Nashville

I read today about a Mississippi driver, Kevin Dwayne Hammonds. He was sentenced to serve 18 of his 25 year sentence for a crash in which he INJURED another person.

A blood test after the crash in 2014 showed Kelly Dwayne Hammons, 45, had cocaine, methamphetamine, propoxyphene (Darvocet) and carisoprodol (Soma) in his system, District Attorney Joel Smith said Tuesday.

Circuit Judge Chris Schmidt sentenced Hammons on Monday in Harrison County Circuit Court. Hammons pleaded guilty to driving under the influence causing bodily injury.

Schmidt suspended seven years of Hammon's 25-year prison term, leaving 18 years to serve in prison.

Go back a couple of posts on this site and you will see that a driver in Nashville going the wrong way on the Interstate killed a person and got one year to serve.

The math says: 18 years to injure in Mississippi and 1 year to kill in Nashville.

Are lives more valuable in Mississippi than here?

Read about the Mississippi case at:

http://www.sunherald.com/news/local/crime/article54259485.html

Soddy Daisy man indicted for vehicular homicide

In Chattanooga, Russell Stephens, 30 has been charged with Vehicular Homicide by Intoxication for the death of Brenda Boren, 68. The victim was in the back seat of a vehicle that was hit head on. Read more at:



Soddy Daisy man indicted for vehicular homicide: Stephens is facing 10 criminal charges

Woman to serve 1 year of 8-year sentence in deadly wrong-way crash

Channel 2 News in Nashville reports that Delois Beasley has been sentenced to 8 years for vehicular homicide by intoxication suspended after one year. Beasley had spent the evening drinking with her brother  at his home on Panorama Drive. She left and ended up driving under the influence going the wrong way on the Interstate 65. Twenty five people called 9-1-1 to report the wrong way driver before she slammed head on into Michael Campbell in January 2015. Mr. Campbell of Brownsville, Kentucky was 42 years old left behind a wife and three children.
Also injured in the crash was 32 year old Michael Anderson of Summer Shade, Kentucky. The two men had been to an Eric Church concert at Bridgestone Arena.
The encore sung by Church was "A Man Who was Gonna Die Young".
The final verses:

I always thought I'd be a heap of metal
And a cloud of smoke, foot stuck to the pedal
Sold for parts like a junkyard rusted-out Chevy

Fear I've had none,
What the hell made you wanna love
A man who was gonna die young?

Call it intuition, or call it crazy
Just thought by now I'd be pushing up daisies
But I'd gladly stick around if we're together
So baby when you bow your head tonight,
Could you tell the Lord I've changed my mind
And with you I'd like to live forever

Driving impaired ends dreams, ends relationships, ends lives.

No sentence would bring back Michael Campbell or heal Michael Anderson. It is terribly sad that these two friends suffered in Nashville due to the crime of this particular woman.

May Michael Campbell rest in peace and may his widow and orphaned children find peace.

Soddy Daisy man indicted for vehicular homicide

Soddy Daisy man indicted for vehicular homicide

30 year old Memphian arrested for passenger death

Ariel Munoz, 30, was arrested Monday for killing his passenger while driving under the influence.
Eduardo Sanchez Sosa was killed after Munoz ran into a guardrail on I 240. Munoz fled after the crash.

Madison Woman Arrested in Fatal Hit & Run Case

Metro officers Monday night arrested a Madison woman in connection with Friday’s hit & run collision on Nesbitt Lane that killed pedestrian Michael Billy Drake.
         Ateah M. Williams, 31, is charged with leaving the scene of a collision involving death (a felony), attempted aggravated child neglect (a felony) for admittedly driving medicated with her eight-year-old daughter in the vehicle, driving on a revoked license (a misdemeanor), failure to render aid (a misdemeanor), and failure to report the collision (a misdemeanor).  The investigation is continuing.  A vehicular homicide prosecution remains possible.
          Williams is accused of striking Drake, 52, with her Saturn Vue SUV as he walked in the grass alongside Nesbitt Lane at 5 p.m. Friday.  Williams called police Saturday morning to say that she believed she was the person being sought in the hit & run.  During an interview, Williams claimed to have blacked out while driving.  She admitted to taking medication that makes her drowsy.

Girl riding in horse drawn buggy killed by impaired driver

 A thirteen year old girl was killed when an allegedly impaired driver ran into the back of a horse drawn buggy in Polk County.  The driver attempted to flee the scene, but was arrested and has been charged.

Read about this tragedy at:
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/local/story/2015/dec/30/numerous-charges-against-driver-who-hit-horse-drawn-buggy/342577/