San Antonio Police and other authorities made sweeping DWI arrests during the recent Fiesta 2017 celebrations, which marked the 126th anniversary of what began in 1891 as a one-parade event honoring the heroes of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto.
Now stretching across 11 days in late April, Fiesta San Antonio events provide ripe opportunity for local law officers to rack up higher and higher totals on their arrest sheets for drunk driving.
DWI Arrests Increase Year After Year
In fact, this year’s 270 county-wide DWI arrests for driving while intoxicated were 13 percent more than last year’s 238 county-wide DWI arrests, made by various law authorities across Bexar County, Texas.
In 2015, DWI arrests related to Fiesta events totaled 222, so arrests clearly are increasing from year to year.
Among the 270 DWI arrests across Bexar County during Fiesta 2017, San Antonio Police made 224 arrests – or 35 more DWI arrests than the 189 they made during last year’s Fiesta.
This year’s first four-day weekend of Fiesta events showed an even sharper spike in DWI arrests. In the Thursday-Sunday period of April 20-23, San Antonio Police alone arrested 90 persons on DWI-related charges, an increase of nearly 50 percent over the 61 arrests made in the same time frame a year ago.
Law officers’ busiest day this year was April 22, when they made 39 DWI arrests. On each day of the April 20-30 event, at least 14 DWI arrests were made.
Yet despite the large numbers of allegedly drunk drivers on San Antonio’s roads for Fiesta events, no DWI-related traffic deaths related to Fiesta 2017 were reported. In fact, there have been no Fiesta-connected traffic fatalities from 2011 through this year.
San Antonio isn’t the only Texas city where local law enforcement is cracking down on drunk drivers.
Similar increases in DWI arrests have occurred in the Houston metro area, including Harris County, Montgomery County and Fort Bend County.
HPD arrested 75 people on felony DWI charges last November and December, and police were again out in force this Cinco de Mayo. In fact, a Houston police officer fired after being involved in a post-Cinco de Mayo drunk driving accident while on duty. The officer was relieved of duty and faces a misdemeanor charge for driving while intoxicated.
In Montgomery County, local law enforcement, attorneys and legislators are teaming up to dedicated DWI task force to stricter penalties for driving while intoxicated.
On May 1st, community authorities posted:
“DWI is the largest criminal offense category in Montgomery County—between 2,000 and 2,500 cases are filed annually, according to the county district attorney’s office. In 2015, there were 624 DUI-related crashes in the county and 21 fatal crashes, according to data from the Texas Transportation Institute. Since 2010, there have been 153 DUI fatal crashes in the county.”
During holidays, officers are expected to work overtime in making drunk driving arrests.
Get a DWI Houston Defense Lawyer
Not all arrests for DWI are justifiable or can be proven in court. In Houston or elsewhere in Southeast Texas, if someone in your family faces a drunk driving charge, get an experienced DWI defense lawyer by notifying veteran Houston criminal defense lawyer Neal Davis.
In fact, you’ll receive a confidential legal review of your case.
DWI Arrests Can Be Devastating
A DWI arrest can be devastating to an individual’s life. It can lead to costly fines, jail time, strict probation, loss of driving privileges and sometimes the loss of a job and livelihood.
But not everyone who’s pulled over and arrested for DWI is guilty of the offense. In fact, it’s estimated that anyone who’s pulled over by police on suspicion of DWI has a 95 percent likelihood of being arrested – guilty or not.
Texas DWI Lawyers Can Help
The Texas DWI lawyers at the Neal Davis Law Firm can help. In fact, Neal Davis has been successful in getting charges reduced or dropped in dozens of cases involving various alleged offenses, including DWI.
Neal Davis is experienced in evaluating the roadside sobriety tests officers perform on persons suspected of intoxication.
“The machines and tests used to determine blood-alcohol content can be faulty and can produce unreliable readings which are inadmissible in court,” Davis says.
Neal Davis also understands the complex laws applying to various DWI cases, and he knows how to investigate and prepare cases accordingly.
“We’ve achieved favorable outcomes for many DWI defendants,” Davis says, “including professionals for whom discretion is critical.”
Contact the Neal Davis Law Firm today and get a legal consultation about your defense against a charge of DWI.
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