Three motorists were arrested at a DUI checkpoint on Friday in West Hollywood, according to the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
The checkpoint was conducted at Santa Monica and Robertson boulevards from 7 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. on Saturday, Of the 4,876 vehicles that went through the checkpoint, 994 drivers were checked. One suspect was arrested on suspicion of possessing an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder prescription medication and heroin. Two people were arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Two vehicles were taken from their owners and stored for a day because of unspecified violations.
I saw the check point; hard to miss when traffic was backed up east of La Cienega. So we pay a close to a score of deputies in one place for eight hours and they only come up with three drunk drivers. What a great use of tax payer money! Thank goodness the Sheriff has the right priorities when it comes to keeping West Hollywood safe. And people ask why young gay men aren’t coming to West Hollywood. Welcome to WeHo; you’re under arrest.
Steve Martin
This only proves that three stupid idiots got behind the wheel and then attempted to drive thru a DUI check point lit. It’s not like the Check Points are hidden, they are plain to see from blocks away.
Guy Privaton, in case you hadn’t checked lately, DUI checkpoints are not a violation of the Constitution. The Constitution does not prohibit all search and seizure, just “unreasonable” search and seizure. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled (see Michigan v. Sitz, 1990) that sobriety checkpoints meet the Fourth Amendment standard of “reasonable search and seizure.” The Court is, by force of Article III of the Constitution itself, the final arbiter and interpreter of the Constitution. We may not agree with what they rule. But what they rule is law until reinterpreted by a later court. We can whine, but they… Read more »
DUI checkpoints: A massive violation of our constitutional right to move freely without being harassed by law enforcement… and they are annoying. West Hollywood does not have to ‘host’ these draconian ‘checkpoints’ within the city. When will they say, ‘no’? Let the Sheriff search everyone’s house in West Hollywood to find three houses containing illegal drugs. Law enforcement will say a job well done. Or that it is necessary to catch a criminal. A favorite: “if you have nothing to hide, then let us look through your car.” Answer: No, jerk. it is unconstitutional for you to force your way… Read more »
I’m all for a good DUI checkpoint but whenever I’m driving home and trying to turn onto my street (Hilldale Ave), the cops give me such a hard time trying to get onto my street. I practically have to beg them to make a right turn. They thought I was drinking and smoking marijuana because my eyes look small and red (okay, I’m Asian, I was born this way). I was 100% sober. Ugh.
I worked in a liquor store and made deliveries. Some of the stories I heard from the regular customers, sometimes more than twice a day, would have you in stitches. My favorite was the guy getting three bottles of Hiram Walkers 100 proof whiskey. He stated;”I don’t know what it is and my doctor doesn’t know either but just a couple glasses of this, H.W., and the shaking goes away.” You have no idea how hard it was to contain myself until I got back to the delivery truck.
I stopped drinking in 1983, while living in West Hollywood. Before that, I was the biggest drunk in town! I first tried to quit in 1980, but it only lasted for seven months. Someone special got me to AA, three days of sedatives and 30 days in a ‘step-house’, but all the while I was ruminating on how to get around this abstinent commitment. Maybe if I only drink after dinner ( and then only beer & wine ). Lol, soon it was, “Only a wine-spritzer after Lunch”. Finally, after 2 years of further Denial, the Sheriff’s took me down… Read more »