Four vehicles were towed and one person was arrested for driving under the influence during a sobriety checkpoint last Friday night on the 1000 block of W. Yosemite Ave.
According to the Manteca Police Department, 552 vehicles were screened during the 7-hour checkpoint located on Yosemite Ave. between El Portal and Walnut Avenues – resulting in 29 traffic stops, eight field sobriety tests, the discovery of four unlicensed drivers and three people driving on suspended licenses.
The suspected DUI driver that was identified in the checkpoint was arrested.
“The primary purpose of checkpoints is to educate the public,” Manteca Police public information officer Greg Beall said in a statement about the checkpoint. “We don’t generally get too many impaired drivers during these events, but they do occasionally come through.
“We did arrest one individual for impaired driving during this checkpoint.”
The checkpoint was funded from a grant issued by the California Office of Traffic Safety – which provides funding for overtime for officers to staff both sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols over busy holiday weekends when alcohol consumption is expected to be high.
Manteca Police patrol officers also arrested a suspected DUI driver on the other side of town Friday night at the intersection of Atherton Drive and Van Ryn Avenue.
While holiday weekends are typically selected for such enforcement periods because of the number of people on the roads, this past weekend was unique in that it was the first weekend following Manteca Unified’s High School graduation ceremonies and included the Memorial Day Holiday – unofficially regarded as the start of the summer season.
Checkpoint locations are typically selected based on the statistical history of DUI crashes and arrests, and over recent years have expanded to include more than just alcohol that is being screened for – while medicinal and recreational marijuana is legal to purchase and consume by people over the age of 21 in California, operating a motor vehicle while driving under the influence of said products is not.
Officers are trained to identify specific signs in motorists that they believe may be under the influence of an intoxicating substance – which includes alcohol, cannabis products, illicit drugs, and prescription medications.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.
