Roadblocks effective – Holiday checkpoints produce multiple citations, arrests

Police began the new year making arrests and issuing citations as the second of two holiday sobriety checkpoints ended with six arrests ? one of which was for domestic violence.

Along with the arrests for various violations, McMinnville Police Sgt. Mark Mara said there were also 13 citations for a number of violations including violation of the seatbelt law, not carrying registration or proof of insurance, violation of the light law and making an illegal U-turn.

?The U-turn citations were for motorists who we saw turn around in the road to avoid coming through the checkpoint,? Mara said. ?The arrests we made were for violations such as underage drinking, driving on a suspended license and DUI, along with the domestic assault arrest.?

Mara said the arrest of domestic assault came as one of the officers was talking to a couple when they rolled up to the roadblock.

During the conversation the officer noticed the woman acting oddly and asked if anything was wrong. At that point the woman reported told the officer she had been assaulted by her boyfriend who was also in the car. The boyfriend was taken into custody at the scene.

Mara said there were 160 vehicles processed through the checkpoints, 18 of which were detained for various amounts of time due to violations. During a sobriety checkpoint, officers do not ask for a driver?s license or registration unless they find another violation since the checkpoints are mainly a way to crack down on drunk drivers. However, a person with a violation, even if it is a seatbelt violation of light law violation, can be detained and asked for license, registration and proof of insurance.

The checkpoints themselves were held on West Main Street and South Chancery Street during a three-hour span New Year?s Eve and early New Year?s morning. And, Mara said the checkpoints are something motorists in the city will be seeing more of in the future.

?We plan to be persistent with these,? Mara said of being serious about getting drunk drivers off the road.

Mara said the recent addition of on-scene breath-o-lizers will aid police in catching drunk drivers. Mara added notice will be given in advance of future checkpoints as required by state law.