Crime & Safety
29 Percent Increase in DUI Arrests Over Holidays
Over 200 arrests made between Dec. 16 and New Year's Day, according to Avoid the 13
By Bay City News Service
Sonoma County law enforcement agencies arrested 163 drivers for DUI during the holiday period -- a 29 percent increase over the 126 DUI arrests last year.
There were 207 arrests between Dec.16 and midnight Jan. 1, according to Petaluma police Sgt. Ken Savano, head of the AVOID the 13 Sonoma County DUI Task Force.
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That includes nine arrests for violating DUI probation and 35 arrests on warrants for DUI, Savano said.
There were six DUI-related injury collisions that injured seven people, Savano said.
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The AVOID the 13 task force said there were no fatal DUI crashes, but the California Highway Patrol is investigating whether alcohol contributed to a solo-vehicle crash that killed a driver on state Highway 116 in western Sonoma County around 3 a.m. Jan. 1.
The CHP identified him as 24-year-old Leopold R. Rubio of Calistoga. Rubio was not wearing a seatbelt and was ejected from his Ford pickup that hit a curb, guard rail and light pole before overturning down an embankment, CHP Officer Jon Sloat said.
A receipt from a Guerneville bar on New Year's Eve was found at the crash site, Sloat said.
The last injury collision this year involved Wesley Pickford, 20, of Novato, who struck 15-year-old Kristopher Tolson of Sebastopol in a crosswalk at the intersection of East Washington Street and Edith Street in Petaluma around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, Savano said.
Pickford admitted drinking alcohol and his blood alcohol level was 0.15 percent, nearly twice the percentage considered intoxicated, Savano said.
Pickford posted $30,000 bail and was released from the Sonoma County jail. He is scheduled to be arraigned on felony DUI charges Friday morning.
The teen was in stable condition today, Savano said.
The CHP also reported two drivers, Heidi Rochford, 37, of Cloverdale, and Maria Pearce, 37, of Rohnert Park, were arrested over the weekend for DUI and child endangerment when children were found in their vehicles, Sloat said.
The women's husbands also were in the vehicles, Sloat said.
