Categories

It’s perfectly acceptable for Broncos kicker Matt Prater to drive a football through the uprights. It’s unacceptable, however, for him to drive his car while intoxicated.

In breaking news, Prater was arrested last week for allegedly driving drunk in Greenwood Village, and for fleeing the scene of an accident.

Prater is in his 5th season out of Central Florida. He has a career average of 79.1% on field goals with a long of 59 yards.

Prater suited up Thursday night for the Broncos first preseason game against the Dallas Cowboys and connected on all three of his field goal attempts.

Consequences will likely come from both the state and from the NFL if Prater is convicted.

Steve Hauschka is the Broncos second team kicker. Hauschka played in the final weeks of the Broncos season last year since Prater sat out with an injury.

Prater signed just signed a contract this July and is slated to receive $1.835 million this year.

More to come as details are released.

If you’ve too been charged with DUI in Greenwood Village, it’s essential for your freedom that you quickly contact a Colorado DUI attorney to discuss your legal options.

Source

Police will be on the lookout Saturday night, as officers patrol a DUI checkpoint in Lakewood.

The checkpoint, located at approximately West Alameda Avenue near South Eaton Street, is part of the statewide campaign, “The 100 Days of Heat,” according to a news release from the Lakewood Police Department.

Several previous DUI arrests in Lakewood occurred near this location, police said. There have also been a number of serious alcohol-related traffic accidents in the area.

The checkpoint will be set up sometime late on Saturday night, when a high percentage of DUI arrest take place.

The Colorado State Patrol and Mothers Against Drunk Drivers will assist with the checkpoint.

Source

Proponents are happy that  a proposed DUI law for mediclal or illicit pot smokers now has teeth in it again, but there is just too much risk that the measure could infairly bite too many.

The measure by Boulder Democrat state Rep. Claire Levy seeks to set a blood-level limit for the active ingredient in marijuana, THC, that has made it so sought after by tens of thousands of Coloradans seeking relief from pain, a way to end nausea, find an appetite or just get high. Currently, the bill is suggesting that anyone driving a car with a THC blood level of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood be considered intoxicated and charged with driving under the influence. It’s much like the system used to snag drunk drivers.

But alcohol is not marijuana, and the science behind what Levy is trying to do is at best murky and most likely irrelevant to what she and her supporters are trying to accomplish: keeping people stoned out of their brains from getting behind the wheel of a car.

What science does know about marijuana is that is has a much more varied effect on people than does alcohol. And the “intoxicating” effect itself is unlike that of alcohol. More to the point, there absolutely is no reliable research making it clear that the 5 ng/ml limit is anything but arbitrary and meaningless.
read more…

A bill that would set the country’s most liberal limit under the law for what’s too high to drive is getting its first hearing Monday in the Colorado Senate.

The proposal would set a blood-content threshold that would allow prosecutors to charge drivers with driving under the influence of marijuana if they have a THC level of 5 nanograms or more per milliliter in their blood. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

A Senate committee will hear House Bill 1261 Monday afternoon.

The bill has angered some medical marijuana users who fear they’ll be unfairly targeted. They argue that their daily use means they have higher tolerance levels for the drug that allow them to drive safely.

Law enforcement groups support the bill, saying it will provide a benchmark similar to the one that exists for how much alcohol you can consume and legally drive.
read more…

All 50 states use the blood alcohol level of 0.08 percent as the point at which you are presumed impaired to operate a motor vehicle. At one time, most states utilized 0.10 percent, but after years of research, most experts agreed that a lower percentage was more representative of the level at which a majority of drivers are impaired for driving purposes. In addition, states complied with the 0.08 level largely in response to the threat of receiving fewer federal transportation dollars for noncompliance.

Officials across the country have sought to find a comparable minimum level for drugs such as marijuana. Colorado legislators are considering a measure that would establish five nanograms or more of THC — pot’s psychoactive element — as the amount giving rise to a similar presumption of legal impairment.

The Colorado bill leaped its first hurdle on March 23 when the state House of Representatives passed the measure. Two days later it was introduced in the state Senate where it was referred to the Judiciary Committee.

Colorado may be entering largely untested waters.
read more…

Police in Aurora and around Colorado have increased DUI patrols planned for Super Bowl weekend, the Colorado State Patrol said Wednesday.

In addition to Aurora police and the State Patrol, 43 other agencies around the state have DUI crackdowns planned starting at 6 p.m. Friday and continuing through 3 a.m. Monday.

“Watching the Super Bowl is one of those American pastimes that people want to celebrate, and alcohol is often involved, so it’s important be responsible,” Col. James Wolfinbarger, Chief of State Patrol, said in a statement. “Choose a sober designated driver before the kickoff.”

Last year, police around Colorado arrested 371 drivers were arrested for DUI over Super Bowl weekend in Colorado.

Source

DENVER (AP) — New state laws that take effect Thursday include one that cracks down on repeat drunken drivers.

The new law requires second-time offenders to face a minimum of 10 days in jail and third-time offenders a minimum of two months in jail. The maximum penalty will still be one year in jail.

The Denver Post reported in a series of stories last year that some repeat drunken drivers got no jail time. The Post also found that sentences for repeat offenders varied widely across Colorado.

The Colorado State Patrol says about 200 people died in alcohol-related crashes last year. State Patrol Sgt. John Hahn says the agency made 572 DUI arrests over last year’s Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Been arrested for DUI in Colorado?

Source

It may be a day reserved for drinking green beer and having fun, but when it comes to driving drunk, law enforcement was not playing games.

Law enforcement agencies across the metro area arrested 688 people during a six day period that began on Friday March 12 and ended March 18.

The crackdown set a new record for the number of DUI arrests during a St. Patrick’s Day “Heat is on” enforcement period.

“The Colorado State Patrol and law enforcement agencies across the state were able to remove 688 dangerous drunk drivers from our roadways before they hurt or killed someone. But we know it could have been much worse,” Colonel James Wolfinbarger, chief of the Colorado State Patrol said.

“The intensity of statewide DUI enforcement will not let up until we stop this deadly crime that kills more than 200 people each year in Colorado,” Michael Nugent, manager of The Colorado Department of Transportation Office of Transportation Safety said.

Authorities say during the same period, five people died in crashes in Colorado. It is not known if alcohol was a factor in those accidents.

Source

Police in Douglas County, Colo. suspect a 48-year-old Colorado State Patrol trooper was drunk while on duty Monday morning, reports CBS Station KCNC in Denver.

Authorities said their dispatch center received several calls from drivers concerned about a marked Colorado State Patrol vehicle driving erratically on Interstate 25 near Castle Rock shortly before 7 a.m.

According to a statement released by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, “The call was transferred to State Patrol due to the driving complaint being on I-25 and referring to a CSP vehicle. Shortly after 7:00 a.m., our dispatch center received a call from State Patrol asking for our assistance in locating the vehicle and checking on the welfare of the driver.”

At about 7:05 a.m. a Douglas County deputy spotted a Colorado State Patrol cruiser on a connecting state road that appeared to be the car people were calling 911 about. Deputies pulled over the cruiser and began talking to the driver, David Nolan.

News helicopter video showed deputies bringing Nolan out of the driver’s seat of the patrol car.

He had his hands behind his back while walking over to the deputy’s cruiser and once he got there he was handcuffed and placed in the back seat.

Nolan is being booked on DUI charges. The state police were expected to provide more details about the arrest later in the day.

Source

A Colorado Springs teenager was sentenced Friday on charges relating to the death of a popular local athlete, David Mueller, in a tragic DUI accident last year.

Dylan Salazar may not spend a day in jail. Though a 4th Judicial District Court Judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison, a deal was worked out with the consent of the Mueller family. As long as Salazar completes four years with Youth Offender Services and a mandatory three years of supervised probation, the 12-year jail sentence will be suspended.

It was July of 2009 when Salazar crashed his car while he was drunk driving on Garden of the Gods Road in Colorado Springs. David Mueller, his friend and fellow UCCS student, was a passenger in that car and died at the scene of the crash.

In the arrest affidavit, it notes Salazar told police he was traveling about 90 mph on Garden of the Gods Road and swerved to hit a bunny. He says that’s why he lost control of his car. Police say he also told them he had two shots of alcohol and a half cup of beer before driving.

The affidavit also says Salazar’s speech was slurred, he smelled of alcohol and his eyes were blood shot after the crash.

David Mueller, who was 19 when he was killed, was a 2008 graduate from Coronado High School and was the star of the track team.

For a long time after the crash, pictures and written memorials, along with a large cross, marked the place where Mueller lost his young life.

Source