There will be blood, at DUI checkpoints
Tags: blood, Capt. Pat Kenny, Dracula, Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw
| Thursday 19 February 2009 2:42 pm
Call him Sheriff Dracula!
Motorists, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw wants your blood.
I’m not kidding.
Drivers on county roads Feb. 27-28 will be subjected to blood tests at DUI checkpoints if they refuse a breath test.
The plan calls for paramedics to be standing by for the blood drawing, which could take place in ambulances parked near the checkpoints.
According to a PBSO memo obtained by Page2Live, deputies and officers from other area police departments are preparing to fan out throughout the county on those days, 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., to stop those suspected of driving drunk.
As usual, there’ll be field sobriety tests, such as reciting the alphabet and walking a line. Those who fail will be treated differently than in routine DUI stops.
They’ll be asked to take a breath test on the spot, instead of being brought to a station where those tests are usually conducted. If a motorist refuses, deputies will actually drive to a judge’s home for a warrant. The deputies will then return to the checkpoint and demand that the suspect have blood drawn.
That procedure is usually reserved for extreme cases, including deadly car accidents or homicides.
That weekend, however, much more blood could flow.
Capt. Pat Kenny
“In theory, we could force a person to have their blood drawn once we have a warrant,” said PBSO Capt. Pat Kenny, the patrol commander who dreamed up the operation. “But we’re going to keep it positive. We’re just trying to drive the point home that DUI isn’t tolerated.
“We won’t hold people down or strap them on a gurney. It’s hard to stick a needle in someone who’s fighting. We’ll try to convince them nicely to make the right choice.”
Those who’ll still refuse the procedure will be arrested and charged with DUI. Suspects face, among other penalties, a license suspension of at least six months for a first offense.
Kenny says about 75 deputies and officers will be involved. He says he expects, at most, eight to 10 cases will be brought to the on-call judge.
“I don’t think it’s ever been done here, but I heard it’s been done in other parts of the country,” Kenny said about the plan. “We’ve met with the paramedics, the state attorney and the chief judge, and everybody felt comfortable that this is something we could do through blood tests.”
Chief Judge Kathleen Kroll says the meeting about the plan in her office was more about informing her.
“Any cop can bring a warrant to any judge,” Kroll said. “Whether the cop actually gets a warrant (signed), that depends on a lot of things. I didn’t approve anything. They just came to me and . . . gave me a head’s up.”
Local DUI lawyers, meanwhile, are licking their chops.
“That sounds absolutely illegal,” said criminal lawyer and CNN legal pundit Michelle Suskauer. “The law keeps blood drawing only for special circumstances. Other states do (blood tests at DUI checkpoints). Some get away with it. Others don’t. This will be challenged in court.”
Added barrister David Olson, who specializes both in civil rights and DUIs: “You can’t go around sticking needles in people. Unless you’re in an accident that caused serious bodily harm. I doubt that a judge will sign their warrant.”
Through his spokeswoman, Teri Barbera, Bradshaw referred questions about the plan to rookie State Attorney Mike McAuliffe.
“We just enforce laws,” said Barbera.
McAuliffe didn’t comment.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha….yeah, good luck with that. Man, do police in Florida have to have any sort of degree?
Why not go after the violent gangs we have now that are causing more bodily injury than DUI/DWI? Seriously people think it’s a problem due to sad stories you hear (and any injury is indeed sad, don’t get me wrong)…but in reality most of those that would be considered DUI will never harm anyone in their lifetime. Those that do get in accidents usually only damage their own vehicle / hurt themselves…..
The totally fall down drunks never get caught at the checkpoints yet 100’s of our tax payers are arrested and subject to $4000+ of fines and fees that this revenue generator creates. For many it causes a financial spiral they never escape…all the while helping no one physically.
Get a backbone cops and start going after those that are actually causing us pain and loss of life on the street.
How many needles can i stick in your arm? One, two , three needles ..ahhh ahh ahh
i tell ya what you have to clean the streets with all the crime for people to even go out to get drunk!! Valentines night at City Place was a MESS!!! I seen 4 fights in about 2 hours. I couldn’t even get to a bar to get drunk because all the crime. i tell ya i wont be going out to get drunk any more because of it. Police need to focuse on the hate in the world not the brew!! i wonder if i act drunk if they will poke me if i refuse the breath test? This world is NUTS!!!! now its gonna get worse trust me go to city and you will see who we have for a president!!! my advise STAY HOME AND GET DRUNK!!!
Woooowwwwwwwwww…….this is INSANE. I hope this goes to court to denounce the scheme as unconstitutional.
what happens if i have a couple drinks around 3 and get pulled over at 8 on my way to dinner. doesnt it stay in you system for 12 hours?? what a bunch of BoNeHeAdS….. i hope i get pulled over so i can take this to court! good job guys way to use our tax money the correct way. this is classic
Lets go DUI bloodbusters.
You can thank Bradshaw after the town gets sued over this and we all have to pay more taxes to cover the bill.
Why dont we use those Needles to test the Local Cops for Steriods or better yet, let them use them for their roids!
McAuliffe is not familiar with DUI laws. Either are his “volunteer” prosecutors. That is why he needs more evidence. Maybe he should hire a defense attorney. He will probably need one before long.
This is really sick and twisted! What is happening to this country? Are we going to sit around and just keep taking this garbage? It will only get worse.
Good for the cops… sounds like some drunks may be in trouble. Maybe the fear of a needle will make them think twice about drinking and driving.
bojangles your an idiot!!!! there is double the number of people killed a year in traffic related deaths, compared to a couple of thugs killed shooting at eachtoher!! get your facts correct before you expose your ignorance to society!!
Yeah, drunk driving is a serious problem, but this is completely stupid. I can see it now. The driver refuses to have his blood drawn and will be charged with resisting arrest. Let’s see if the media follows up on this and reports what really happened.
Spend more time and resources at general traffic eneforecement you will catch DUI AND VIOLENT THUGS stop going for publicity
I hope this does take action. Drinking and driving is not just something we can blow over. It RUINS LIVES, PEOPLE. Sorry, but if someone is drinking and driving, they deserve to be thrown in jail.
No body likes needles. Drunks should just blow or stay off the road.
PBSO should be looking for drunk drivers ALL the time–not simply two days out of the whole month.
Nanny state. That’s it, keep voting for democrats and liberals, and this is what we get. One day there will be enough people arrested for DWI that they are a large enough voting bloc to stop this insanity. This, while hardened criminals are let off repeatedly with a slap on the wrist.
Yikes, the penalty for refusing a breath test is a six month suspended license; or refuse a blood test and get a six month suspended license; or submit to one and maybe get by, or get a six month susoended license for first offense DUI.
The judges will be sleeping soundly; it’s a waste to tie up ambulances and paramedics in this publicity stunt. I don’t advocate impaired driving but I’m with the defense attorneys, you need strong probable cause to obtain a warrant that compels a defendant to provide evidence against yourself. Taking blood is invasive, against the religious belief of some, and has a small but not insignificant risk or disease transmission.
Your best bet is to refuse if you know you’ll blow over the limit; the old trick was to demand a blood test and hope either the booze hadn’t been in you long enough or it would take police so long to get a blood test your level might drop under the limit.
It’s all abount money. More fines, more lawyers fees and court costs. Amazing all the greedy elements can quickly gather around one astoundingly stupid publicity stunt. All this for 8-10 arrests.
BillyB do you think a person is going to think twice about driving drunk because; “Maybe the fear of a needle”?????? I’m pretty sure that if the possibility of being thrown in jail and being repeatedly raped and poked by objects much larger than needles, does not detour someone from drinking and driving than “fear of needles” certainly won’t either.
I would also like to correct Teri Barbera. When she said the PBCSO “just enforce laws” I believe she meant to say that they are just beginning a malicious witch hunt centered around anyone who doesn’t use their blinker.
DUI is the only criminal charge that some folks think permits them to hide the evidence of their crime. If you are suspected of any crime where DNA evidence is required, it will be taken from you. For DUI charges…a crime that, if not stopped by a law enforcement officer…could result in death or injury…you cannot hide the evidence contained within your body. Refusing to blow will cost you your license for at least one year in Florida. If you are stopped, blow or bleed…your choice. You don’t have the right to jeopardize the lives of my family in my car. Drink all you want. Who cares? Just don’t crawl behind the wheel and risk your own safety and the safety of everyone else on the road. It’s called responsibility! For those who gained your legal knowledge from watching Judge Judy and Law and Order…and believe this isn’t going to work…just hide and watch!
Sheriff Bradshaw is asking for trouble with this stunt. I hope the paramedics (county & city) are prepared for major lawsuits.
I never drink & drive, but if someone fails or refuses the breath test; arrest them and take them to a hospital for tests if they are to ill to go to jail.
Side of the road testing by paramedics using needles on unwilling patients…this is going to make a lot of drunk drivers & lawyers rich.
Coming soon!! Door to door mandatory house searches! Hey if you have nothing to hide what are you worried about?
For JailBush…there must be Probable Cause to search and collect evidence…hence the search warrant. If the Judge doesn’t feel there is PC, he/she won’t sign the warrant. On the other hand…if the dash cam shows erratic driving, a staggering driver with slurred speach exiting the vehicle, eyes that display HGN (Horizontal Gaze Nystagmis)…the strong smell of alcohol on and around the subject…Probable Cause has been demonstrated and the warrant will get signed. Like I said earlier, blow or bleed. You can’t hide the evidence contained within your body. Just don’t drive drunk and we’ll all be much better off!
Are you out of your mind? This is BIG BROTHER. Next will be pee in a cup, oh, wait they all ready do that. This is a joke. Go find real criminals, like rapists, murderers,and wife beaters. Why dont the police focus on cleaning up the police force. How many DUI’s have the sheriff’s office had this year? How many girlfriends have been beat up? Now you want to take blood at checkpoints? Are you kidding. Waste of taxpayers dollars, oh, thats in Vogue too, as Barack Hussien Obama and the Democrats just passed the biggest porkulous bill in history. Socialism =Control over your lives, your money, your blood, your urine and they tell you were to work.
Welcome to the new Security State….you like that comment by the PBSO rep? “In theory we can force a person…” Bear in mind, a person who is innocent until proven guilty can be forced. That sounds like an effing police state to me.
I will now work hard to retire Ric Bradshaw off to Venezula or Bulgaria or whatever country seems more in line with his dreams of a perfect society.
I’m also totally over this ‘war on drunk driving’, which is really nothing more than a modern version of Prohibition. It’s reached utter hysteria. First they make it so you’re legally drunk after two lite beers, now they want to toss out the US Constitution and jab needles in your body to prove your guilt. Meanwhile, a vast majority of drunk driving fatalities are caused by a small percentage of chronic repeat offenders. The Mothers Against Drunk Driving all need a bitch slap. They’ve become the NRA…..once a practical, effective force for change, now a collection of obssessed paranoids constantly reinventing some new , extreme goal or legislation. These prudes won’t rest until Elliot freaking Ness is popping the tabs on kegs in the street, sending the beer into the sewers.
Hey Tim…your team lost the election. The majority of the nation didn’t agree with you and yours. Suck it up cupcake!
Hey HM…too much coffee this morning? Dude, no one is talking about prohibition here. It’s the drunk driving thing..get it? No need for the needle…just blow! Driver’s choice. It’s a simple decision. No blow = bleed. You have no right to hide the evidence. What…you wanna’ hide evidence? Why that’s simply UN-AMERICAN! And here you wanted us all to think you are a real American patriot. You’re blowing your cover!
dont the police have anything better to do than harass the public.the money and manpower could be utilized to maybe catch some real criminals.
I see, the Fed takes our money and as America reaches for the only thing she’s got left, her Victory gin, the cops are instructed to keep digging deeper into our civil liberties. Sounds doubleplusgood to me. Way to go Pat the Kenny! Hey Cap’n, you ARE an American, right? Do they still require cops to UNDERSTAND the Bill of Rights? Check points are sketchy in-themselves as pertaining to the 4th Amendment. Cap’n Kenny: “We won’t strap people down…” (Not now anyway) But you may Taser them, right? But the bottom line here is our citizens will have to wait why a cop drives to a judge’s house. Let’s wake up people, it’s stuff like this that paves the way for further intrusion. Although, this is one pretty steep intrusion. While you have the needles out, can you go ahead and implant an RFID tag? Let’s just cut to the chase, shall we. You police officers might want to start questioning whom you serve.
I think the sheriffs office needs to worry more about their own, with all the trouble their officers hae been getting in lately. I have little respecet for police now days, and I am an upstanding citizen stating this and not just some punk, pissed off that the police took away his marajuana. It seems like a real lack of profesionalism in this line of work. I think they need to raise the educational and training requirements for these individuals. Just my opinion, as a law abiding tax payer.
Didn’t anyone read on the Fox News website two days ago that I95 in Palm Beach County was one of the ten top dangerous highways in the country. Yearly, about 18000 people die on US highways from drunks. More teenagers are killed every year by DUI related incidents than the total who have died in six years of combat in the middle east(4000). DUI is the number one killer of all age groups under 25. So Mike, you tell the cops “get a backbone and start going after those that are actually causing us pain and loss of life on the street.” It just seems from your comments that you are one the DUI’s they just might catch and it worries you. So you try to muddy their attempts because of your own self interest. Make no mistake about it, DUI is a horrific killer of people not to mention the shattered lives and mangled bodies left in its wake. So fix your rectal-cranial inversion and look around.
RVB, get off your high horse. That’s not the point (btw Sober Driver = cops’ wife) There are thousands of horrors on this planet. One of the reasons - THE reason we feel, as Americans, that we have it better than any where on the planet is because of our BILL of RIGHTS! Can you wrap your mind around that for just a second? If you think that an example of the most important facet of being a “free citizen” in a “free country” is pulling over so a uniformed person can draw blood from you to see if you’re behaving, then RVB, go find another country.
I think you all amaze me! The issue here isn’t infringement of rights which by the way isn’t happening here. It is against the law to drive when you are over the legal limit. When you were in high school and a friend died from drunk driving do you remember what your reaction was. Shock, Sadness, and then blaming them for making such a foolish mistake. I can name 5 kids who have died from Wellington due to drunk driving. Erin Fernandez wasn’t drinking but a drunk driver killed her. How about the woman who died on Lake Worth and Congress about a week ago. I believe her name was Joann Padilla. Her life is over because a 23 year old man was driving under the influence. Before its someone in your family don’t you think the people who work to protect us should do something about it. Blow in the machine or get your blood taken after they acquire a WARRANT. And by the way once they get a WARRANT from a judge around the corner YOUR DONE FOR!
Look, we could spend months citing all the unbearable pain and misery drunk driving has caused. And at the end of that depressing adventure, do we decide that this “free society” needs to be re-worked, that is, draw up a new Constitution so that no one ever gets hurt? One, that’s impossible. And two, the Constitution and Bill of Rights are really all we’ve got left. You want to talk about death, Caitlyn? Do you know any veterans?
Bill of Rights Analysis for John:
(Ill keep it simple for you over achieving scholars)
1st Amen. = right to speech, assembly, press, and petition (nothing wrong there)
2nd Amen. = guns (nope nothing there)
3rd = Soldiers living in your home (nope again)
4th = Nobody can search your body, or your house, or your papers and things, unless they can prove to a judge that they have a good reason to think you have committed a crime.
(HMM THAT WOULD BE THE WHOLE WARRANT THING THE POLICE WILL BE GETTING BEFORE THEY GIVE YOU A BLOOD TEST)
5th = due process (hmm innocent til proven guilty, the warrant leading to the blood test yup there ya go!)
6th = quick trial (nope not there yet)
7th = right to a jury (no help for your point)
8th = reasonable bail (none again)
9th = Just because these rights are listed in the Constitution doesn’t mean that you don’t have other rights too. (right to drive drunk isnt one of those rights!)
10th = Anything that the Constitution doesn’t say that Congress can do should be left up to the states, or to the people. (Yup Florida law doesn’t help you out either)
long story short you don’t have the right to drive drunk nor do you have the right to refuse a breathalyzer in the state of Florida as well as the united states of America. in the event that you refuse a warrant can incur a blood test. And I hope they pull all of you over who think otherwise.
I know plenty of veterans. We can start with my grandpa hmm then we can go to my uncle red who died during world war 2 he would have been a veteran. or how about my childhood best friend who is a navy seal. he served 8 tours and now is happily retired and married. but if some drunk had ran a red light and killed him he wouldnt have been able to do all that good for our country. they fight for our freedom from oppression and tyranny from other countries (great Britain that whole revolutionary war thing.. remember) but laws are still necessary. anarchy doesn’t work. so get over it!
I’m glad you are familiar with the Bill. Now watch as each one of these is taken from you. You boil it down like this - we are all boiling down our own points for impact - but can’t you see that if this procedure becomes routine and deemed Constitutional that it could open the doors to even more invasive tactics. For instance, that person over there subscribes to Mother Jones. I have studies that prove that people who subsribe to that mag, people who buy grow lights, people with those bumperstickers etc. are “likely” to be drug users etc. (name your own particulars) this opens the Big Brother Fahrenheit 451 era of suspicion and neighbors turning each other in wide open. Perhaps what you’re not grasping is the endgame. You would hold up posters of tragic car accidents and would win the hearts and minds of everyone. But this country was founded on a passion more abstract, a harder sell.
you just made a whole lot of sense. NOT. not a single point i made was turned. if this were a debate you would now be declared the loser with non topical analysis.
Ok Caitlyn, “you win.” Is that what you want? I guessed you missed my point. Compare your civil liberites over the years to post-Sept. 11. New laws and legal procedures face battles in our judicial system and legislature. Nothing is etched in stone. It is up to us, however, to keep in tact the most important essences and interpretation of the Bill and Constitution. Your interpretation of the 4th in not accurate. But the 4th, like all others, can be debated. We are free to do so. You can successfully sue to stetch out traditional interpretations in your favor, though others would deem a violation. Both sane parties in this case would desire safety and happiness, but your party would loosen the Bill and mine would tighten it. In this county, we jailed a young man for his right to assembly during a peaceful protest of an FPL power plant. Regarding your assessment of the state of the 3rd, wrong again. But people like yourself are going to find out the hard way. The Obama administration can’t strip this bill fast enough, but he’s going in the right order: first strip the money.
I’ll leave this debate with this thought for you Caitlyn, if you are afraid to face the future, how can you possibly see what’s happening today. But I believe as Americans, we will come together again. God bless.
My only child was killed in WPB on I-95 over Christmas of 2006 on his was scuba diving. He was a few months from graduating college and beginning grad school. From starting his life as a marine scientist. But instead he was killed by the selfish and criminal act of a drunk driver. It wasn’t an accident. It was crash. There was nothing accidental about it. It wasn’t a mistake. The person who killed my child chose to get behind the wheel of his car and make it a deadly weapon. Chose to play Russian roulette with everyone on the road. My son was the innocent victim of his game. He was not a multiple offender. Not one that had been caught anyway. Although, I can guarantee you he had driven many, many times under the influence, playing that same game of Russian roulette on the road with many people’s lives but just did not succeed in taking any lives until that night that he took my son’s. On December 19, 2008 he was sentence to just 12 years in prison for killing my child. Matt will never be back. I was sentenced to life. My story is the story of thousands and thousands of people every single year. And it is 100% preventable.
When did it become a RIGHT to drive a car in this country? It’s not. It is a privilege. My son had the right to be safe on the road that night. Everyone has the right to be safe when the are out of the road. That is your right. Your right is not to be able to drive a car. When you take that privilege and abuse it (to say the least) by putting the life of everyone else on the road in danger and then complain about your rights being taken away then you clearly don’t have a clue. Getting behind the wheel of car intoxicated is illegal. If you are pulled over and are not intoxicated then you have absolutely nothing to worry about. It is a non-issue. Just blow. You will pass the test. You will pass the field sobriety test. The blood test won’t even come into play. The only people that will refuse to blow are those that, if they were not pulled over, may very well have killed someone elses Matthew that night. The people that have such a problem with this *have* to be drinking and driving or have loved ones that drink and drive.
DUI is the most socially acceptable crime there is. The “oops crime”. If someone had shot my son through the head, sliced his throat, then it wouldn’t be acceptable, would it? But the fact that he was *only* killed by a drunk driver — that’s ok. The fact that this person just chose to get wasted and drive his car with no regard to what happened to anyone else but knowing exactly what very likely could happen - that’s ok.
Don’t drink and then drive. It’s so simple. Yet for some so selfishly impossible in their minds.
I think Barrack Hussein Obama is the worst thing that has ever happened to our country. He is the a dictator in sorts and the American people will learn that over the next four years. But I don’t think this really goes that far. The main issue here is whether or not the police have a right to enforce blood testing at DUI checkpoints which they do. My analysis on the fourth isn’t incorrect. The most basic forms of the bill of rights truly apply to what the police are trying to do. The preamble of the constitution blatantly states that we have a need to protect ourselves from the inside as well as the outside. Drunk driving is wrong. If there are ways for the police to lessen drunk driving then they should try.
Drunk Driving is a very serious and violent crime! Thank you PBSO for taking a giant step to hopefully prevent someone from driving drunk next weekend. The PBSO is not out there for only 2 nights, they are out there every single night looking for drunk drivers, working hard to keep our families and community safe. Over 13,000 people died last year due to drunk driving crashes and thousands more were seriously injured. When will people get the message? It is such a selfish act to know you are going to go out and drink and then get behind the wheel of a 4,000 pound weapon, think about it! For the cost of a cab ride, people lose their lives, does that make any sense???? Not to me, it’s is so easy to have a designated driver, call a friend or call a cab. It’s all about choices, make the right choice and you won’t have to worry. Thank you PBSO and all DUI Police Officers….
The US Supreme Court ruled over 20 years ago that this is constitutional. go read South Dakota v. Neville. You don’t have a constitutional right to dirve, OR to drive drunk.
hey morons. The majority of the Deputies dont want to be there…. They are TOLD to do this special assignment from their Lieutenants. Most of the Sergeants dont want to be there TOO. Trust me from an insiders perspective. Most cops would rather BS with thier buddies in the middle of the night then stand on thier feet and check drivers… THATS THE TRUTH!!!
Matt’s mom… I am SO sorry for your pain and loss!! I agree, we have a right to feel that we’re sharing the road with safe, sober drivers. Get the drunks off the road. While you’re at it, get the over-70 with diminished capacity off the road as well!! If you’re going to sit there with an ambulance - sit there with an eye exam machine and reflex testing equipment to check the elderly. Half of them can’t turn their head towards their shoulders. You will never find any kind of Elderly Saturation Patrols or it’s equivalent. Why? Because the AARP is such a strong lobby!! Go on the NTSB website and see how many elderly are involved in crashes (many fatal)!
How exactly do they plan to restrain a 240lb., drunk,angry, needle phobic 22 year old (someone that has already refused a breathalizer) to draw a blood sample? SOMEONE is going to get hurt. Let the lawsuits begin!
The single most PREVENTABLE crime we have in our country! Preventable simply because it just doesn’t have to happen. Is a cab ride just so damn hard that its worth someone’s life? My wife and I also lost our child to a drunk driver just over 4 years ago. She had just turned 19 and was attending college in Orlando at UCF. As near a perfect child as anyone could hope for yet destroyed by someone’s selfish act of driving drunk. I cannot begin to tell you all of the horrific continual grief of having to bury one’s child. And from such a senseless act, and John, you’re correct, it is “unbearable pain and misery” that will NEVER go away. But don’t be so dismissive of other’s pain by stating this as a “depressing adventure”. You clearly know not of what you’re talking about. Additionally, I am a veteran and have witnessed the loss of that as well and I can tell you from personal experience that there is simply no comparison.
And to clarify a another point made by some other “intelligent” writers, PBSO do their jobs under adverse conditions every day, and do it extremely well.
PBSO has a DUI unit that patrols every night of the week the streets of our county trying to keep drunk drivers off our roads BEFORE they can kill or hurt someone. Every time they take someone off the road that is impaired it is quite probable that in turn they saved someone else’s life. Some of you shouldn’t be so quick to judge Capt. Kenny and the men and women who do this work. I can tell you from personal experience that if a drunk hit and killed one of your family members you would be the first one yelling and screaming for the Police to help you.
Also, Connie is absolutely correct in stating that we as citizens of this free society do NOT have the right to drive as it is simply a privilege. Look at the bottom of your driver’s license and read what it says just below where you signed it. “Operation of a motor vehicle constitutes CONSENT to ANY sobriety test required by law”. You signed it, agreeing to submit to any test, and yet because some feel this might be an infringement of their personal rights, or some lower life form DUI defense attorney told them not to, some feel it ok….dumb move. No matter how hard some try to trivialize the issue of drunk driving, the statistics tell another story. Over 13,000 people killed on the highways of this country just last year due to alchohol related crashes. I for one will stand with PBSO, Capt. Kenny, his officers and anyone else who has the stomach to fight this senseless violent crime.
Steve i think you said it perfectly. Im sorry for your loss.
When I go to my favorite watering hole and have a couple too many, my FRIENDS take my keys and drive me home.I don’t have any problem giving them up either.
Other than that, one word could solve all our drinking problems…………TAXI !!
I would like to give them a on the spot urine sample!!!
If anyone agrees with me call me at 954-294-8200
On a given Friday or Saturday night 7 out of 10 drivers are over the legal limit of .08. These drivers cause accidents and death to innocent people. Anyone can refuse to submit to roadside tasks. But after you refuse and are convicted of DUI, you should loose that right of refusal. I agree with this campaign. I believe there is Federal case law that permits officers to collect evidence in a criminal case. Blood is evidence. Good for the Sheriff’s office and the State Attorney’s for getting proactive! California already has this law!!!!
There is an annual, charity police golf tourney on the 28th. Usually draws few hundred officers and Bradshaw supporters. I wonder if the checkpoint will be anywhere close?
In the 1770’s, a minority of colonists laid waste to their own country’s soldiers. History books convey a different story, of course. They make it sound like there were already two seperate countries, each with their own armies, etc. There were the Redcoats vs. the Americans. In reality, only a third of these English colonists were on board with murdering the troops. Today, this highly-celebrated American Revolution would NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. Apart from all the lies and deceit, the evil politicians and their human chessboards, the banksters and their puppets (Bush, Obama, Clinton, etc.) the one thing that makes American wars worth even thinking about is the ideals we rest on. And that is that apart from our troops merely surviving, they come home with a deep sense of pride for having contributed - despite the murder - to our freedom. It was worth it for freedom. So yeah, let’s now bend over and let the moral majority convince the politicians that their votes rest on their ordering the cops to do something they don’t want to do and we don’t want done. I know that some of you think you want this, but you offer no end to it. What’s next? You don’t care. Just get drunks off the road, no matter the means - the end will justify it. And that is why America is in this extremely sad state. If we’re going to buy into the patriotism, this “American” paradigm - and I’ll bet most of you wouldn’t dare challenge it - then let’s understand it’s true gravity and stop blaming foreigners who at the very least are blessed with a more accurate perspective. NO ONE wants inebriated people on the road. But we have a greater duty to do as citizens then obey the nuances of each and every changing law or edict. We have to STAND for our LIBERTY.
Geez, I can’t believe the idiots that try to over-intelectualize and/or trivialize this issue. It’s just too damn simple people! What’s so hard about getting the point thru the, “oh so intelligent” head of yours that if you’re impaired, GET A CAB!!! That’s all anyone is saying. All of the rantings and dribble about the constitution adds up to nothing. No one is trying to take away anyone’s rights. I and my family and you should and do have the RIGHT to expect that no one is impaired on the road, and if they are, they should go to jail. And yes, you’re right, I don’t care at all how the PBSO or any other authority removes drunks off the roads as long as they do so. Ask anyone that has lost someone to this idiotic and completely preventable crime and they will agree. As I stated before, all it would take would be one incident from a drunk driver that hurt one of your family members and all of you pseudo-intellectuals would be crying for justice from the police and the judiciary.
if drinking and driving kills so many people, why is alcohol still LEGAL?
again….
if drinking and driving kills so many people, why is alcohol still LEGAL?
What is wrong is drunk drivers who continue to slaughter innocents on our roadways. I guarantee anyone who loses a loved one to a drunk driver will gladly support this initiative. What is the difference between an innocent person killed by a drunk driver and an innocent person killed by a robber, or burglar, or any other kind of criminal. Does the surviving family feel any less grief because the killer was just a drunk driver? No, I don’t think so. If anyone wants to avoid the Sheriff’s proposal, it is easy…don’t drive drunk.
Jim, Steve, et al, sincerely, all due respect and sympathy, this is not about DUI. Any sane person would agree that its wrong and horrible etc. Some sane people would throw in that we all do it (honest people will anyway) and that “D,” according to legal standards could even be “tipsy.” Holier than thou peeps aside, try going anywhere, to any social function, restaurant etc. and get out without a buzz, etc. Not to mention prescription medication, fatigue, etc. There are thousands of ways to die on the road, tens of thousands of ways to die. DRIVE DEFENSIVELY. This is about what we allow police to do to otherwise innocent civilians. This is about government intrusion. Are there not enough cell phones on the road? But when you’re done with “drunks” will you not target texting next. Come on - you will! And NO ONE will blame you. I hate texting drivers. Want to run them off the road…BUT they’re calling in the swerving drivers to the police, yes? Are there not enough highway patrol…? Roadblocks and checkpoints just barely scraped out of the Supreme Court as permisable. I also don’t want to be bothered by taking off my shoes at airports. LEAVE ME ALONE is what I say to government institutions. I’ll handle that drunken bum on my own. But this goes much further than any plaint so far offered. Some have touched on it. PROHIBITION. You want the streets rid of DUI, that is the only way. EVERYONE drinks, smokes, does some kind of drug and is sick and tired and insane in some way. You safety creeps are not going to find Utopia by taking away our civil liberties. I know you’ve had pain. You don’t want to know what kind of pain I’ve had. WE ARE ALL IN HELL. Stop playing the victim card. We’re all victimized and the Today Show loves it. People who are right now plotting to take the very best of everything including your souls ared doing so while you people busy yourself with amber alerts. You can’t have it SAFE. Arm yourselves. Teach your children well. In fact, DO NOT give them the car keys. Honestly, do teenagers need to drive? So far, that’s the age group that’s causing most of the tears, no? YES! Honestly, you really have to be kidding me that you would allow a group of government employees to decide whether or not I’m cooperative on my to or from my social engagements. Arrest and prosecute those who’ve CAUSED a problem, not that potentially could cause a problem. Believe me, I sympathize. How many times have I discerned a potential problem and have had to count to ten. But you are not going to get rid of drunk driving unless you can start activating a general respect in society, and judging by the way we treat prisoners, that’s not going to happen. Judging by police brutality, nope…Judging by our education system — etc etc…that’s right, this is a systemic problem that will be used against you. Blood now, hair samples later; internment camps, debtors prisons, etc. WATCH what happens when the government becomes bigger and more out of control than they already are. STAY OFF the road if you are so damned afraid of drunk drivers. AND don’t let your children drive AT ALL. Other than that, please don’t paint me or others like me as monsters who don’t sympathize with your loss. You are right about what my reaction would be. I would be on your side, but I would also have lost an objective perspective. I do wish the problem could be solved easily, but it will not be solved with blood tests on the road side. It will be worsened in a roundabout way - it’s that roundabout way that will get us worse than these senseless tragedies, we will lose the country we’re driving around in. BESIDES, if you refuse a breathilizer, aren’t you screwed anyway. I know, I know, it’s not enough - proves my original point. I’m going to write my senator and tell h/er that everytime I walk around in NYC, I’m worried that someone’s poorly installed a/c unit is going to fall on my head, therefore, I want home inspections to continue round the clock until I know that I will never die by an a/c unit falling on my head. Oh yeah, also, I don’t want to fall through a subway grate, also, no stray bullets, falling satelite debris, I don’t care what we have to do. (I know! NO MORE SAT TV!) That’s right, get rid of it. No more Hostess cupcakes that could cause me diabetes, no more death. I want to live forever. Boy in the plastic bubble time. No driving, drugging, making love, breathing, etc. death to death by death. What we need is a cop for every citizen. To the grocery, to the mall, with the power of a Kung Fu Jesus, no disease, certainly no mugging. We all want those loved ones who have died tragically to come back. We wnat to somehow fix what caused their deaths. We need all the power and conviction we can muster, and we’ve learned that it comes easiest with that pure, honest ANGER that coursed through are veins when we suddenly became victims. NO MORE, we said. No more. And everytime someone came by intellectualizing, rationalizing, our eyes destroyed them where they stood for being foreign to our undeserved anguish. But we know what came of that. And, well, sometimes, it has changed the world. But you are telling me your world change has to do with high-paid babysitters?
After all this, I don’t know, maybe you’re right.
I think I may have changed my mind. My resistance is obviously well-noted and outspoken. But I think I’ve made many good points that should be listed out and re-written for clarity (stripped of emotion, etc.) Ultimately, a car is heavy machinery that should only be operated by humans in excellent mental and physical condition. And DUI probably is the best place to start. But we shouldn’t stop there. Medication and fatigue is a major culprit behind car accidents. Ultimately, this is what we’re talking about. My concern, of course, is regulation. If we take this to its end, civilization will be unrecognizable to us in just a few generations. Either hindsight will find us as struggling cavemen or we ourselves will have pity for the new generation of robotically, over-regulated human beings whose liberties have been greatly diminished comparatively. They live longer, yes; but will they “live” better? What’s the cost of road safety? But, like I said, maybe those for this new checkpoint regimine are right. Perhaps, the PRIVILEDGE of driving should be stressed, leading to a stripping of that tradional “freedom of the road.” I can see smaller cars with exponentially more saftey devices, new trends in public behavior, a new, more voluntary prohibition coupled with “brave-new-world” privacy standards, an Asimov nightmare: what have we got to hide if we all do the same things in the dark? We are safe. Safe. Safe… So safe that should we ever have a Second Coming, he’ll offer nothing in comparison. We will be compelled to reject Him. Or will He instead just saunter up to this new throne of our own creation and learn that, surprise! this is exactly what He’s been waiting for? A safe new Kingdom in Heaven and on Earth. An eternity of this equilibrium. That is until the backdoor flies with bored souls on make.
Error correction: That is until the backdoor flies OPEN with bored souls on THE make. (A concept that originates from some gnostic texts…)
Don’t worry, I’m done now.
By native palm beach
Feb 27, 2009 12:08 AM | Link to this
I’m just happy the drunks will be caught and ajudicated,before an innocent citizen becomes a DOA.Drunks have no rights when they drive drunk!!!
Hey, Nazi Germany all over again !!!
The “Capt.” is nothing but a moron for proposing this method to catch DUI drivers.
The “Chief Judge” has a poor sence of judgment for even meeting with theSE goose-stepping brigades…”a neutral and detached judge” right? lol…what a joke…WHAT A JOKE….
Somebody ought to get out there tonight and bring their video cameras to record the real episodes….LEO’s are known to “forget” and trivialize what really happens at the scene when testifying in Court…especially when the defendant’s show up with 2 black eyes, broken limbs, and ruptured testicles, and are charged with resisting arrest WITHOUT VIOLENCE.
WE BETTER KEEP OUT EYES OPEN AND THE CAMERAS ROLLING TO KEEP THE NAZIS IN CHECK !!!
lol i hope this keeps happening its keeps me employed lol
“”"We should never drink and drive, but I still like to know where checkpoints
will be in Orange County, San Diego, and LA. I may use calcheckpoint
(www.twitter.com/calcheckpoint) to find out where they are.”"”
The reason Bradshaw wants your blood is because he has already drained your pockets ! His over paid staff of double dipping political cronies , his waste of tax payers money , and his personal kingdom have bankrupted the county . Why doesn’t he take some blood from those blood sucker Majors of his , a the big fat one , second in command . Like in the movies , the public tax payers , and voters need to drive a steak in the heart of the Bradshaw political monster budget.