Kicking off the annual
”
Avoid the 13
”
holiday campaign to discourage drinking and driving, Morgan Hill
police officers arrested 25 people during the weekend.
MORGAN HILL
Kicking off the annual “Avoid the 13” holiday campaign to discourage drinking and driving, Morgan Hill police officers arrested 25 people during the weekend.
The 19-day crackdown officially began at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, and as of 7 a.m. Monday, local officers had arrested seven more people than during the first weekend last year.
During the kickoff weekend last year, officers made 18 DUI arrests.
Countywide, there were 180 arrests for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to Jan Ford, public information officer for the campaign.
The county’s total is 10 percent above last year’s total of 171 during the first weekend, and 31 percent ahead of the total two years ago, according to Chief Lynne Johnson of the Palo Alto Police Department, who chairs the campaign.
There were two alcohol-related injury crashes in the county, but no one has died at the hands of an impaired driver.
Ford said the Hollister-Gilroy area CHP have made seven DUI arrests, and Gilroy police have made 11, while the San Jose CHP has 27.
There were no DUI-related accidents during the first weekend of the campaign, but there was a pursuit ending in an arrest, according to Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing.
At approximately 9:48 p.m. on Friday, Morgan Hill police officer Max Cervantes attempted to stop a man on a motorcycle who was weaving as he drove on Monterey Road near the intersection of Burnett Avenue.
Eric Laursen, 35, of Aptos sped away instead of stopping, Swing said, at times reaching speeds of 80 mph as he traveled on Santa Teresa Boulevard, Willow Springs Road, Little Uvas Road and Croy Road. He dropped his motorcycle on Croy Road, Swing said, and fled on foot. When officers arrested him, they found three bags of methamphetamine totaling 2.7 grams and 17.38 grams of marijuana.
Laursen, who is a parolee at large, was booked into Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of driving under the influence, on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance, alleged possession of a controlled substance and felony evading a peace officer.
CHP officers start their Christmas weekend maximum enforcement period on Dec. 21, ending on Christmas Day. Nearly all available officers will be assigned to freeway patrol, said Officer Todd Thibodeaux of the San Jose CHP office.
Avoid the 13 is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, which funds similar efforts in 35 other counties throughout the state. The Santa Clara County Avoid the 13 started with 13 agencies participating in 1973 and has kept the original name although the number of agencies involved has grown. The county’s effort is the oldest in the state.
