This is one of the craziest stories of corruption I have ever seen. In a story that reads like a bad movie, an out-of-control police force in Jericho Arkansas has been harassing citizens for years, writing excessive numbers of traffic tickets. The town has 174 residents -- of which seven are police officers. The town pays for the officers' salaries, evidently, but apparently not much else. The town recently had a fire truck and a police cruiser repossessed for nonpayment.
So far there has been no accounting of where the money went for all the tickets that were issued, and neither the mayor, the district attorney, nor anyone from the police force, are saying anything.
But that's not the worst of it. When the fire chief went to court to protest excessive ticketing (he had to appear twice the same day) a scuffle broke out and one of the officers shot him. Right there in the courtroom!
You have simply got to read this. The link link is here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_re_us/us_shot_in_court
The Star-News' Judy Royal has posted a very helpful list showing the number of DWI and impaired driving arrests for Wilmington this decade.
Since these pages sometimes tend to disappear from Google's memory banks rather quickly (I couldn't find a permalink option on their page), I am listing the numbers below, which I hope the Star-News won't mind:
2000: 826
2001: 728
2002: 668
2003: 867
2004: 901
2005: 767
2006: 598
2007: 583
2008: 927
A Holden Beach police officer was arrested and charged with DWI in Shallotte this week for -- while driving his patrol car. According to the Star News, the charging officer reported that the driver was "very impaired." It is important to note that despite this information being published, the officer should be presumed to be innocent. That is the presumption that must be started with in each and every case, and is a deeply important Constitutional right afforded to all citizens, and one that is all too often forgotten about in this day and age.
The officer has a hearing set for early August.
A recent DWI checkpoint netted 15 DWI arrests in Wake County. According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Officers from Apex, Cary, Garner, Morrisville, Holly Springs, Zebulon and Fuquay-Varina conducted a joint operation. Altogether some 76 drivers were charged with various offenses.
Wilmington and New Hanover Counties accounted for more than 75 DWI charges over the July 4th holiday week, according to the Star-News. Many of the arrests were due to a DWI checkpoint on Oleander Drive, near the Bradley Creek bridge, which netted 32 violators. Heightened enforcement is expected again around Labor Day weekend.
A man convicted of the hit-and-run death of "Spyk" Quick, a popular Raleigh chef, was sentenced to 23 months in jail, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The driver was driving on a suspended license after at least one prior DWI conviction.
Anybody driving on Pine Grove Drive this morning surely had a good look at the damage caused by a single-vehicle wreck last night. According to police, a drunk driver ran his car off the road at the intersection of Pine Grove and Holly Tree. According to the Star-News, the car jumped the curb, crashed through a tall privacy fence, appeared to have also taken out the tool shed, damaged the home, and ended up in the garage. The driver - a 17 year old from Wilmington, was charged with DWI.
An early estimate places damage to the residence at $75,000.
On Sunday, a man was charged with DWI after crashing into a police cruiser just south of Monkey Junction. The Star-News reports that the man was traveling south on Carolina Beach Road when he tried to make a right on Sanders Road. His car crossed the center line, hitting two vehicles that were stopped at a red light. One of those vehicles was a police cruiser belonging to a New Hanover County Sheriff's Deputy. The driver was charged with DWI, exceeding a safe speed, and allowing his vehicle to cross left of center
According to the police department in Wilmington, NC, DWI convictions end up costing offenders approximately $10,000.00. In an article in the Star News describes the efforts being made to educate people about the high financial price - including fines, court costs, probation fees, and insurance rate hikes - that accompanies a DWI conviction in North Carolina.
The Star-News reports that a drunk driver was arrested and charged with DWI near downtown Wilmington early this morning, after being clocked at over 100 m.p.h. The driver was chased on Market between 16th and 21st, where the speed limit is 35. No word as to his BAC, but the arresting officer noted that the driver passed out during the arrest. The driver, from Greenville, was also charged with running a red light, and felony speeding to elude arrest.