O.C. Program Seizes Cars From Unlicensed Drivers

Drive without a license, lose your car.

It’s that simple under a pilot program launched Monday in south Orange County and aimed at chronic traffic offenders who continue to get behind the wheel after their licenses are suspended.

The California Highway Patrol has joined forces with prosecutors and judges at Municipal Court in Laguna Niguel to impound the vehicles of these drivers and sell the cars at auction.

“We tell them not to drive, they drive anyway,” said Supervising Deputy Dist. Atty. Bruce Patterson, who is overseeing the program, the first of its kind in Orange County. “It’s not uncommon for people to have three, four or five violations. When you get to that point, we just figure ‘take the car.’ ”

A state law that went into effect last year allows authorities to seize a vehicle when a motorist is caught driving without a valid license and has at least one prior misdemeanor conviction for the same offense.

Orange County’s six-month pilot program, however, will target only the most serious traffic offenders: motorists who are driving drunk, drunk drivers who cause injury, and drivers who have three or more prior convictions for getting behind the wheel without a valid license.

“This isn’t aimed at the first-time offender, this is aimed at the people who really drive like idiots,” said Municipal Judge Pamela L. Iles, who has helped lead a statewide effort to crack down on unlicensed drivers. “This program is going to save people’s lives and reduce physical injuries.”

But the pilot program has drawn criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union and others who contend the crackdown is overkill. Low-income families will be especially hard hit, they say, and it will penalize innocent people, such as a wife who loses her transportation to work because her husband disregards the laws.

“There are already ample penalties to deal with people who drive without a license,” said Los Angeles ACLU spokesman Allan Parachini. “We think this is superfluous.”

Supporters, however, say repeat traffic offenders pose a danger to others. Motorists who knowingly drive without a license are more likely to flee accident scenes, rarely bother with insurance and often are reckless drivers--which is how they got into trouble in the first place, officials said.

The state Department of Motor Vehicles estimates that 7% of the state’s 20 million drivers do not have valid licenses, and more than 20% of fatal accidents involve unlicensed drivers. At least 75% of drivers with suspended or revoked licenses continue to drive, they say.

It’s unclear how many Orange County drivers could be snared in the program, although a 1993 study estimated that as many as 30,000 Orange County motorists could qualify under the less forgiving state law.

In recent months in Orange County, officials have cited several problem drivers who police say should never have been behind the wheel:

* Hung “Henry” Mai, 25, allegedly was driving with a suspended license last month when he was pulled over by a California Highway Patrol officer. Prosecutors allege the Fullerton traffic stop escalated out of control, and ended with Mai shooting and killing Officer Don Burt.

* Steven Edward Schumacher, 38, of Fountain Valley, was allegedly driving with a suspended license in March when he slammed into another vehicle, killing Roberto Ferrer, his 22-year-old passenger.

* Fernando Quezada Perez, 27, of Santa Ana, was allegedly driving with a suspended license and a blood-alcohol level of .20%--more than twice the legal limit--when police said he killed Sonia Ruiz, 14, and Ruben Quiroga, 4.

The case against Perez is just one reason that Mothers Against Drunk Driving in Orange County is one of the new program’s biggest supporters. If the law deters reckless motorists from driving, lives may be saved. “It’s a step in the right direction,” said executive director Reidel Post. “A car needs to be looked at as a weapon.”

Authorities in the city of San Francisco and in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties already are actively using the vehicle seizure law. Orange County had delayed putting a program into place because of budget cuts after the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy, Patterson said.

CHP officers will target motorists in South County, from around the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station south to San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano, and including unincorporated areas of South County.

Patterson said deputies will immediately impound vehicles driven by motorists without valid licenses--a routine practice. Motorists who are not arrested will be cited and driven off the freeway to safety, most likely by riding along to the tow yard. There, they will have to find alternative transportation, Patterson said.

Prosecutors will then start forfeiture proceedings and set a court hearing date. If the motorist is driving a vehicle that does not belong to him or her, the registered owner will have the opportunity to fight the seizure at that hearing, officials said.

But officials said it is unusual that people are caught in someone else’s vehicle. In Ventura County, where the program has been underway for about 18 months, more than 70% of the motorists don’t show up to contest the seizure, said supervising Ventura County prosecutor John Cardoza.

Vehicles are later sold at auction. The proceeds are divided up in several ways after funds are used to pay for towing and storage of the vehicle and to cover outstanding liens. A portion also will be placed in a fund for victims of hit-and-run drivers, officials said.

Judge Iles is urging the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the Laguna Beach Police Department to join the effort with the CHP. Both agencies said Monday they are considering whether the project will be worth the time and effort needed.

“We have some concerns,” said Laguna Beach Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr., who said he would have to hire a part-time employee to handle the paperwork and investigation involved. “Frankly, I don’t have the staff.”

The program will be reevaluated in February as officials decide whether to keep the program and expand it to the rest of the county.

Iles is hoping the effort will succeed. She has waged a one-woman war against the repeat traffic offenders, including sending bailiffs into the parking lot to catch defendants who routinely drive away from the courthouse--just moments after Iles had ordered their licenses suspended.

“I would think Orange County law enforcement would all sign on to this,” she said. “These are really the people who do not care. They drive drunk, they usually have terrible driving records and then when there’s an accident, they sue you because they don’t have insurance.

“We are not asking them to do anything more than what we require of ourselves: drive in a civilized manner, pay insurance and drive with a valid license.”