CHP Stops 913, Arrests 10 at Sobriety Checkpoint
California Highway Patrol officers pulled over 913 motorists and arrested 10 suspected drunk drivers at a sobriety checkpoint in an unincorporated section of southern Los Angeles County between 10 p.m. Friday night and 2 a.m. Saturday, a CHP spokeswoman said.
The roadblock on the westbound lanes of Rosecrans Avenue at Gramercy Place was the only sobriety checkpoint scheduled for the weekend in Los Angeles County, CHP Officer Diane Lowerey said.
CHP units throughout the state planned similar checkpoints during the weekend, marking the first such roadblocks since the state Supreme Court formally approved the practice last month.
Statewide, the CHP reported 1,392 drunk driving arrests by 6 a.m. Saturday, compared to 1,345 arrests during the same period last year, Lowerey said.
Despite the statewide crackdown on drunk drivers, the CHP recorded seven more fatalities this year compared to the same period last year. The weekend reporting period began at 6 p.m. Wednesday and ends at 6 p.m. today.
Thanksgiving weekend traffic accidents claimed the lives of 48 motorists by 6 a.m. Saturday morning, including 12 motorists in the CHP’s Southern California Division, which includes Los Angeles County and parts of adjacent counties, Lowerey said.
Last year, the CHP reported seven deaths within the Southern California Division and 36 deaths statewide for the same reporting period, Lowerey said.
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