DUI crackdown in Coachella Valley nets 5 arrests

Nov. 14, 2009 | Jason Kandel | KPCC

Five men were arrested, 25 motorists were cited and four vehicles were towed in a DUI crackdown on the 86 Expressway at Airport Boulevard in Thermal, authorities announced.

Of the 25 citations issued, 23 people were cited for hazardous/equipment violations. Two people were cited for driving without a driver's license.

CA/Local News

Some 1,759 vehicles passed through the checkpoint between 7:30 p.m. Friday and 1 a.m. Saturday.

The checkpoint was held after authorities began noticing an increase in alcohol-related accidents over the past few years. It was held to reduce the number of people killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes.

"All too often, residents of the southern Coachella Valley are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by impaired drivers," the Indio Station of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department wrote in a press release. "This DUI/driver's license checkpoint is an effort to reduce those tragedies, as well as ensuring drivers have a valid driver’s license. A major component of these checkpoints is to increase awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and to encourage sober, designated drivers."

Deputies released the following names of those booked into the Indio Jail during the checkpoint:

Gerardo Ramirez Vences, 42 years old from Indio, for DUI; Martin Mesa, 23 years old from Thermal, for DUI; Jose Vargas Bautista, 25 years old from Mecca, for public intoxication; Julio Diaz, 20 years old from Thermal, for possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and violation of probation; Juan Hernandez Garcia, 29 years old from Mecca, for 4 outstanding misdemeanor traffic warrants. Garcia was cited and released at the scene.

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