Articles Posted in Public Safety?

A man from San Diego, Christopher Cheatum, was supposedly vacationing in Florida when he got into some trouble for driving under the influence. Cheatum was drunken driving when he started taking his vehicle in circles around fuel pumps at a Love’s gas station on County Road 255 in Madison County, Florida. This strange behavior alerted nearby law enforcement and they quickly approached the scene, leading Cheatum to attempt to escape. Luckily, deputies caught him quickly before he could get onto the roads and harm himself or others. Officers say he reeked of alcohol and his speech was all over the place in slurs. Cheatum was swiftly arrested for DUI and taken into custody. Apparently he partied a little too hard on his vacation and hopefully he learned his lesson and found himself a good lawyer!

Sources:
“California Man Arrested In Madison County For DUI” – WTXL TV

A tragic shootout occurred in St. Louis last week when two men opened fire at each other in public streets. During the shootout, which happened just outside of an apartment complex in the 1900 block of Hodiamont Avenue, 46 year old Juliette Cleveland-Davis was walking with her three grandchildren when one of the bullets struck her in the middle of her chest; rendering her dead at the scene. Her three grandchildren, ages 4, 5 and 7, were fortunately unharmed, but sadly had to watch their own grandmother succumb to the violence. The two men responsible for the exchange of bullets are Errick Owens and Tommy Dora Jr., both being held without bond while they await trial. Owens, 20, who lives on the 7400 block of San Diego avenue in North St. Louis county, was the first one captured and charged; murder and armed criminal action. The second man, Tommy Dora Jr., resides on the 5900 block of Ridge Avenue and was captured Saturday evening and charged with the same crimes. The two men are also suspected to have been firing at a third person who has yet to be identified by authorities.

Sources:
“Second Man Charged in Shooting of St. Louis Grandmother” – Post-Dispatch

At Jay-Z and Beyonce’s Rose Bowl concert in Pasadena, an interesting altercation occurred between a man, woman and the woman’s boyfriend. The man, later identified to be 25-year-old Roberto Alcaraz-Garnica, apparently copped a feel on the wrong girl; her boyfriend was extremely unappreciative. The woman’s boyfriend confronted Alcaraz-Garnica directly about his actions and a fight broke out, and a violent one at that. According to police, Alcaraz-Garnica, the man accused of groping the woman, bit part of one of the boyfriend’s fingers off! He was immediately arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of sexual battery and “mayhem,” held on $100,000 bail. Authorities are unaware if Roverto Alcaraz-Garnica has a lawyer or if one needs to be provided to him. The woman and her boyfriend were not charged, but police did make 10 other various arrests during Saturday’s concert. Roughly 55,000 fans attended this particular concert and the same turnout was expected at the second concert Sunday. Hopefully no fingers were lost.

Sources:
“Fingertip Bitten off At Beyonce/Jay-Z concert in San Diego” – CBS 8

Navy officials had a not-so-pleasant knock at the main North Island Naval Air Station entrance – from a car. The gate at the main entrance was heavily damaged by a suspected drunken driver smashing into it around 5am Tuesday, forcing Navy officials to close down that specific entrance and attempt to divert traffic elsewhere. On the City of Coronado’s Facebook page, officials stated where the traffic was being redirected to; from the Third Street entrance to the Ocean Boulevard and first street gates. The wreck caused by an individual driving under the influence caused huge delays and the main gate where the accident occurred wasn’t reopened until 6:30am. The hour and a half wait was also a result of structural issues caused by the car hitting the entrance and authorities needed the time to correct them. Even though the gate was fixed, traffic got very heavy because of the backup still existing from when the gate was broken. Soon, things returned back to normal and the driver was taken into custody for DUI.

“Suspected DUI Crash Closes Gate at North Island” – Fox 5 San Diego

Authorities set up a checkpoint somewhere in the 4200 block of Mission Bay Drive in the hopes of removing some drunk drivers from the streets – which they have successfully done on numerous occasions in the past – and continue to do frequently. The checkpoint began around 11pm on Friday night, operating for roughly four hours before coming to a close Saturday morning at about 3am. Although driving under the influence isn’t the only offense the police officers screen for during routine license checkpoints, it is usually the one seen most often and the one most vital to get off of the roadways. During the hours of the Mission Bay Drive checkpoint, officers on the scene were able to stop a total of almost 572 vehicles for further inspection; around 1,800 vehicles passed through the checkpoint in total. Out of the almost 600 vehicles screened, officers were able to make a total of nine arrests on drunk driving charges.

Sources:
“DUI Checkpoint in Mission Bay Nets Nine Arrests” – San Diego 6, the CW

Supposedly a new medication exists to help overdose victims on the verge of death caused by opiate overuse. Officers at the Santee Sheriff’s station have started carrying the new drug as part of a pilot program; they have been using them in the field for about two weeks. Even though the officers have carried the drug on their persons for the past two weeks, it had remained unused up until this past Wednesday. The mother of a 37-year-old victim, a known heroin user, called 911 around 8am to get emergency help with the overdose of her son. Her son was lying unconscious with no pulse in their home on Bradley Avenue in Bostonia. Sheriff’s sergeant Scott Hill was the first emergency responder to arrive on the scene and immediately gave the unconscious man the new drug. The drug, called Naloxone, is designed to reverse the affects of opiate overdoses and moments after Sgt. Hill sprayed the nasal solution in the victim’s nose he started breathing again. As soon as the victim started breathing again he was taken to a nearby hospital for continued treatment. Using a drug like this is designed to buy more time and not cure the overdose completely and in doing so has the potential to save many lives. The drug is undergoing a six-month test to see if using it permanently as a utility for officers is a realistic and helpful option. Part of the research is being done by UC San Diego.

Sources:
“Sheriff Makes First Use of Anti-Overdose Medication” – Times of San Diego

New developments have occurred regarding a DUI incident covered a few weeks back. The driver at fault is now awaiting a trial date and is in custody with a bond price of $500,000. A cab driver, 42-year-old Antenah Minassie, was driving his cab on Interstate 5 when he was rammed into by a vehicle driving the wrong way. The wrong-way vehicle was being driven by Amy Marie St. John-Smith, who had a blood alcohol level of an astonishing 0.27 percent; over three times the legal limit! In her drunken stupor, she drove the wrong way up the off-ramp on Washington Street, setting off a dangerous chain reaction of accidents. When she hit Minassie’s cab, she did not stop to check on him or phone for help, fleeing the scene; making it a hit-and-run case. Stunned, Minassie got out of his car to recoup and assess the damages, tragically creating the circumstances for his own death. Another vehicle slammed into the back of his cab, the sheer momentum causing his car to fly toward him, killing him instantly. Minassie was a full-time engineer and only drove the cab for a second income; he is survived by his wife and three children.

Sources:
“Driver to Face Trial on Murder Charge in Cabbie’s Death” – UT San Diego

Everyone had a great time watching the horse race last Thursday at the Del Mar racetrack, the 75th season of local thoroughbred racing; alcoholic drinks were a fan favorite. After the fun was over, authorities were ahead of the game and set up patrols and road traps, screening people as they went through. In total, there were 14 teams of officers on the job from Thursday at 5 p.m. to Friday at 2 a.m., and it proved to be a good use of resources when the arrests and violations started pouring in. In total, just under 200 vehicles were stopped between the designated patrol times and 13 drunk driving arrests were made – one guy even had some brass knuckles! Aside from those arrests, police cited a person for marijuana possession and ticketed for 50 other violations – four vehicles were impounded, too. Authorities made a statement saying they went into action to reduce drunk driving and had no other choice but to remove any and all persons suspected of it from the streets and roadways to keep drivers safe; and that’s exactly what they did.

Sources:
“13 Arrests for DUI Near Del Mar Racetrack” – KFMB 760am

Cesar Chavez Parkway in San Diego became a danger zone Monday night when a southbound grey and red sedan swerved its way into northbound traffic. The sedan pummeled a man riding a motorcycle in said northbound traffic, causing the driver to be rushed to the hospital and fighting for his life with life-threatening injuries; a compound fracture to his leg and head injuries. The driver of the sedan, however, managed to escape, making it a hit-and-run case and initiating a search by authorities to locate him/her. Witnesses managed to see where the sedan driver who hit the motorcycle sped off to, stating the vehicle was seen driving east on Newton Avenue. Authorities have not yet released the description of the driver but have continued the search throughout San Diego and its surrounding areas Tuesday night. They are not yet able to determine the cause of the driver’s actions and if the behavior was a result of drugs or alcohol. Hopefully police are able to locate the driver soon and the motorcycle driver in the hospital undergoes a speedy recovery.

Sources:
“Motorcyclist Seriously Hurt in Hit-and-Run Crash” – CBS 8 San Diego

Earlier this week thieves targeted two schools in the San Diego Unified School District, Lewis Middle School and Patrick Henry High School. At first, for some reason, it was thought the two burglaries at the schools were unassociated coincidences, but later determined to be two consecutive crimes by the same culprit(s). The robberies weren’t well planned as apparent by the lack of knowledge on what was exactly in the middle school classroom; a window was smashed in, but nothing was missing. Under an hour later, the high school was targeted and yet another window was busted in. This time, however, the thieves got lucky; 38 iPads were hiding away in the classroom they chose to break into. They escaped with 38 iPads the students presumably used for learning purposes in that particular class. Fortunately, a handful of night patrol officers came across two of the thieves, eventually leading to the arrest of five people; three adults and two juveniles. The names and ages of the suspects have yet to be released.

Sources:
“Police Recover Stolen iPads, Make Arrests” – UT San Diego

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