Declaring war on DUI

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

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By Joe Wisinski
Executive producer
BayNews9.com

Dec. 7, 2005

Cruising westbound on East Bay Drive Friday evening, Largo police officer Justin Martens spots headlights approaching far too quickly.

In an instant, the lights pass Martens' patrol car and start to fade out of sight. Martens whips his car into a tight U-turn and adjusts his radar to track the blue Jeep Wrangler.

Martens clocks the Wrangler at 73 mph in a 45-mph zone, so fast that both he and a reporter with him initially believe the radar's calibration

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must be off. Within seconds, Martens hits 101 mph as he pursues the Wrangler, but even at that speed hardly closes the gap between the vehicles.

A red light looms ahead at one of the busiest intersections in Largo, East Bay Drive and Belcher Road. The Wrangler's brake lights pop on, indicating the driver is slowing down before reaching the intersection.

He slows all the way down to 58 mph before he barrels through the red light.

The Jeep speeds down East Bay Drive like a ping-pong ball, first on one side of the road, then the other, then back again. After a chase of almost a mile, Martens gets close enough for the driver to spot his flashing red and blue lights.

The 23-year-old male driver pulls over immediately and gives the officer an explanation for blowing through the red light.

"The brakes on this Jeep are bad," he says. "If I try to stop too fast the front end shakes."

250 arrests and counting

In August 2004, the Largo Police Department began a new program, sending Martens out four nights a week specifically looking for drivers who may have been drinking.

For drinking drivers, the anti-DUI program is bad news. To say

DUI by the numbers

1 Number of drinks needed for judgment to be impaired.

38 Percent of traffic deaths in Florida in 2004 that were alcohol-related.

150 Approximate number of Florida police officers with at least 100 DUI arrests in 2004.

$250 to $500 Fine imposed by the state for a first DUI conviction. A first-time DUI offender also faces probation, mandatory attendance at DUI school, and loss of his driver's license for six months.

1,222 Number of people who died in drinking and driving accidents in Florida in 2004.

1,579 Number of people nationwide who died in drinking and driving accidents between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day in 2003.

17,000 Approximate number of people who die nationwide in drinking and driving accidents each year.

Martens gets a lot of DUI arrests is like saying Florida gets a lot of warm weather. In less than five months last year, Martens arrested 104 drivers for driving under the influence, earning him the MADD 100 Award from Mother's Against Drunk Driving for arresting more than 100 drinking drivers in a year.

This year Martens has been no less successful in getting drinking drivers off the road. He racked up 150 DUI arrests in the first 11 months of 2005, even though much of his work time was spent on other endeavors besides DUI patrol.

Martens averages almost two DUI arrests a night. He's had as many as five in a night.

His record of convictions is as good as his history of arrests--he's only lost one case out of the more than 250 DUI arrests he's made.

Looking for trouble . . .

In some ways, the Wrangler driver arrested Friday was not typical.

Unlike the Jeep's driver, and contrary to popular opinion, drinking drivers don't always weave all over the road. Martens looks for any type of erratic driving as indication that the driver may be under the influence. A car that hugs the pavement lines, bounces from one side to another in a lane or makes an illegal U-turn grabs his attention.

"The first thing that goes [if a driver has been drinking] is judgment," he says.

Even a car driving too slowly makes Martens suspicious. On another night, a car was going 5 mph in the same area of East Bay Drive where the Wrangler was going 73. That driver, too, was under the influence.

Martens explains that the standard for pulling over a driver who may have been drinking is lower than that required for some other criminal activity. Even if the driver never commits a traffic offense Martens can stop him or her.

"It's reasonable suspicion, rather than probable cause," he says.

. . . and getting in trouble

Not surprisingly, Martens suspects the driver of the Jeep Wrangler has been drinking.

The 150-pound driver admits to drinking four beers at a bar on Rosery Road in Largo. He also says he was on his way home when pulled over. He lives in an apartment complex a quarter-mile from the bar, but when pulled over he was four miles from home, and heading away from his apartment.

Shortly after taking a sobriety test, this driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI.

When questioned about where he is, at first he says he's on Missouri Avenue, then on U.S. 19. Martens asks him when he last ate.

"About four hours ago."

"What time was that?" Martens asks him.

"About 6 o'clock."

It's now pushing 2 a.m., eight hours, not four, from his last meal.

"Your internal clock is one of the first things to go," Martens says.

Martens issues five field sobriety tests to the driver:

A horizontal gaze nystagmus test. The driver is asked to follow the lighted red tip of a pen with his eyes, without moving his head. Martens says if a driver has been drinking his eyes will jerk, instead of following the light smoothly.

The nine steps test. The driver must walk a straight line heel-to-toe for nine steps, make a tight turn, and walk back nine steps.

Balancing on one leg. The driver stands on one foot for about 30 seconds.

Touching the nose. With hands at his side, the driver is asked to close his eyes, lean his head back, and touch his nose with the tip of each finger.

Reciting the alphabet.

The man performs well on the tests, but Martens arrests him anyway. He says he doesn't base a decision to arrest a driver on the five tests alone. He also takes into account the way the motorist was driving, the driver's interaction with him and statements the driver makes.

Martens asks the driver if he's willing to take a breathalyzer test.

"I'll comply," he replies. "But I know I'm going to fail."

He's right.

Drinking and driving myths

At the Largo Police Station, the driver takes two tests on an Intoxilyzer, the alcohol-measuring device commonly called a breathalyzer.

He blows a .158 and .144 BAC, almost twice the .08 limit at which the state considers a driver impaired.

"I wish I had just taken a cab home," he says. "I just wish I had taken a ******* cab."

He doesn't say, "I wish I hadn't drank the four beers."

Martens takes the suspect to the county jail, where he will spend the night. Like all drivers suspected of DUI, the Jeep's driver cannot leave the jail until his BAC drops below .05, even if someone is willing to pick him up. And he must wait until morning to go before a judge to have bond set. At least eight hours of his life will be lost before he's a free man again.

A costly evening

If he's convicted of DUI, the driver's night at the bar won't be cheap. The state imposes these DUI penalties:

More than likely, the judge set bond at $500. Unless he was able to raise $500 in cash, the driver paid a bail bondsman $50 to post bail.

The Jeep's driver had a prior conviction for DUI in 2001. If he is convicted a second time, his fine will run between $500 and $1,000.

Upon a second conviction, the driver must pay for an ignition interlock device, which keeps a car from starting if his BAC is more than .05. The device runs $70 for installation, plus $72.50 per month for monitoring, calibration and insurance. The device will remain installed for a year or more, meaning at least another $940 out of the driver's pocket.

Although drivers suspected of DUI aren't typically issued a speeding ticket, a judge may require the driver to pay a speeding fine, above and beyond the DUI fine.

He'll pay court and probation costs.

Finally, because he was unable to reach a friend to pick up his Jeep, Largo impounded the vehicle. He'll pay $125 to get it back.

The total cost for the driver, if convicted? At least $1,615. More than $400 for each beer he says he drank.

Getting them off the road

The driver's actions may cost him heavily, but with him being miles from where he thinks he was and still going the wrong way, Martens believes the man would inevitably have been in an accident if he hadn't pulled him over. Martens knows he may have saved someone's life that night by catching the drinking driver.

"That's the kind [of DUI arrest] that really makes me feel good," he says.

Like the Jeep's driver, many of those Martens arrests for DUI know they shouldn't be on the road.

"A lot of people say 'I know I shouldn't have driven,'" Martens said. "A lot of times they don't want to pay for a cab, or don't want the inconvenience of having to come back for their car the next day."

Martens hopes to change that attitude.

"Our goal is to have citizens know that if you're going to drink and drive, do it somewhere else besides Largo," he says. "Hopefully there will be a time when there won't be enough drinking drivers out there for me to have five arrests a night."

After Martens began working the DUI patrol, he made so many arrests that the police department doubled its anti-DUI efforts. In January 2005 another officer joined Martens in patrolling for drinking drivers, with almost equal success.

Martens believes in what he and his colleague are doing to reduce the number of crashes in Largo.

"My family and my friends drive on these roads," Martens says. "I don't want them to be hit by one of these drinking drivers."