The Sarasota County Sheriff’s office will need to go back to the drawing board when it comes to its plans for roadside DUI checkpoints in Sarasota as a judge has ruled the plan for stopping alleged suspects of DUI in Sarasota is unconstitutional. The plan has already been utilized by the sheriff’s office and anyone arrested as a result of those DUI roadside stops could have their case dismissed.
This is the second time the sheriff’s plan has been declared unconstitutional in the last two years. The central point of contention for Sarasota County Judge David Denkin was the fact that every driver stopped at the DUI checkpoint was required to submit to a breathalyzer test even if they passed previous field sobriety tests. Judge Denkin ruled that there is no legal basis for detaining drivers who have already passed these tests.
Monthly Archives: November 2010
Tampa DUI Trial – Unusual Tampa DUI Manslaughter Trial Takes Center Stage In Hillsborough Courtroom
A Tampa DUI trial unlike any other is underway in a Hillsborough County courtroom as an alleged drunk driver who never hit anyone is facing felony DUI charges for manslaughter. The case is attracting national attention because there is already a woman in jail serving time for DUI manslaughter for killing the same man who the current driver is on trial for killing. Confused? The jury may be too.
Amir Sarhaddi was driving on I-75 following Guavaween in 2007. He noticed a flipped Jeep and pulled off the highway to help. While doing his good deed a drunk driver ran into both Sarhaddi and the car involved in the accident killing Sarhaddi. Easy enough right? The driver should be in jail serving a long DUI jail sentence for killing the Good Samaritan. That driver already has been sentenced. This trial is aimed at putting the original driver who was involved in the first accident in jail for DUI manslaughter since that driver was allegedly drunk as well.
Traffic Radar Technology – Radar Unit Will Allow Florida Police Department To Issue More Speeding Tickets
The latest traffic radar technology is coming to one Florida police department and that could increase the number of speeding tickets that officers issue in High Springs, Florida. The city of High Springs won a Kustom Signals Pro Laser III in a raffle from the Florida Law Enforcement Liaisons.
High Springs is a town with about 4,000 residents according to Wikipedia and spending $1,500 on a new laser unit is not really in the budget even if it leads to safer streets by issuing Florida traffic citations to more drivers. The town’s police department got the radar unit for free thanks to a raffle that took place at a meeting of Florida Law Enforcement Liaisons, which will sometimes raffle off the most expensive traffic enforcement technology.