CHP: Four Marin DUI Arrests in 24-Hour

In the wake of four-DUI collisions throughout Marin this weekend, CHP asks residents to  be vigilant in preventing your friends and family from drinking and driving this holiday week.

CHP reports that Thanksgiving through New Year’s is generally a very busy time for their offices throughout the state. Winter break means more teens and college age young adults home for the holidays, more travelers hitting the highways, and a myriad of social gatherings both in homes and public places that will involve the consumption of drugs and alcohol.

“So far, the start of the first weekend of the winter holiday season resulted in Marin CHP officers making two DUI arrests from collisions on Friday, December 20, 2013, and two DUI arrests from collisions in the early morning hours of December 21, 2013,” revealed Sergeant Marcus Bartholomew in a press release.

• On Fri., Dec. 20 at approximately 8 p.m., Marin CHP responded to a accident involving a 1998 Audi A6 that had crashed into a fence at 10 Giacomini Road in Point Reyes Station. Officers arrested Antonio Mares, 24, of Petaluma, for driving under the influence of alcohol and for being an unlicensed driver. He was booked into the Marin County Jail.

• On Fri., Dec. 20, at approximately 9 p.m, Marin CHP received a call of a reckless driver on westbound SR-37 at SR-121, followed by another call, minutes later, stating that the 1994 Lexus four-door sedan had left the roadway and had been involved in a collision on westbound SR-37 east of the Petaluma River Bridge. According to the press release, the vehicle had struck a power pole and the solo male driver had sustained moderate injuries. The driver was transported to Marin General Hospital where CHP officers arrested him. Tyree Porter, 40, of Mather, CA was later booked into Sonoma County Jail for driving under the influence of alcohol.

• On Sat., Dec. 21, just after 2 a.m., CHP received a call of a crash involving a 2014 Audi A4 on Loring Avenue in Mill Valley. Marin County Sheriff’s Deputies detained the driver who had reportedly collided into two separate residential fences and a mailbox on Loring Avenue, before becoming lodged into a ditch, resulting in the arrest of Cynthia See, 45, of Mill Valley, for driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a blood alcohol content above .08%.

• In a fourth DUI-related collision in just over 24 hours, Marin CHP responded to an overturned Toyota Tacoma submerged in Lagunitas Creek on Saturday at approximately 11:30 p.m. Officers report finding the vehicle on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard west of Platform Bridge. Aaron Ely, 39, of Point Reyes Station, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Although reports say two dogs were ejected from the back of the truck when it overturned, however, no injuries were reported.

Marin CHP officers are reporting they have seen an increase in reports of reckless and “possible DUI” drivers reported by motorists this weekend.

“We appreciate when motorists alert us to unsafe driving and possibly impaired drivers and provide us with license plates and vehicle descriptions so officers in the field can attempt to locate those vehicles,” stated the press release, “Sometimes it results in us stopping a sleepy driver, sometimes it’s someone distracted by a cell phone, but many times it is indeed a person impaired by drugs or alcohol.”

“People can also help us this holiday season by keeping an eye on friends and family, and finding them an alternative to driving home if they have had too much to drink or appear impaired in any way. Parents can also assist us by setting strict and early curfews for their teens that are on vacation over winter break.”

Marin CHP traffic info, enforcement campaigns and more via Twitter at @CHPMarin.