1 Youth Arrested at Sobriety Checkpoint

The California Highway Patrol’s “Sober Graduation Checkpoint” ended Sunday with one teen-ager arrested among 10 who were stopped on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The checkpoint, which operated from 11 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. Sunday, was in the northbound lanes of Pacific Coast Highway north of Broadway in Sunset Beach, said Kevin Dougherty, a California Highway Patrol spokesman.

Officers stopped 426 vehicles, but only 17 motorists were asked to take a field sobriety test, Dougherty said.

The checkpoint was intended to discourage graduating students from drinking and driving.

Two citations were given to motorists for having open containers of alcohol inside a vehicle.

It was the CHP’s second checkpoint at the same location. The first, on May 17, stopped 948 motorists. Of that figure, 38 were given field sobriety tests, and 14 drunk driving arrests were made. No motorists between 15 and 18 were arrested at the time.

The legality of the checkpoints is unclear. An Orange County Superior Court found them unconstitutional in 1985 because Anaheim police had “no probable cause” to detain motorists suspected of drunk driving. That decision was upheld later by an appellate court.

However, an ACLU appeal is pending before the state Supreme Court after a state Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that checkpoints are legal.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last March that police in Virginia have a legal right to continue stopping motorists at sobriety checkpoints in that state. But it is unclear whether the high court’s decision is binding throughout the nation.