IMPAIRED DRIVERS ARRESTED THIS WEEKEND BY STATE POLICE TEAM AVERAGED TWICE THE LEGAL LIMIT

Maryland State Police Press Release
06/15/2015

(PIKESVILLE, MD) – For the second time this spring, a trooper with the Maryland State Police impaired driving enforcement team actually had a drunk driver run into him, as the team arrested more than one dozen drunk drivers, one of them twice, who had an average blood alcohol content of more than twice the legal limit.

Maryland State Police troopers are trained in how to look for impaired drivers, but too often impaired drivers are finding the troopers by running into them. Troopers from the State Police Impaired Driving Reduction Effort, or SPIDRE Team, had that happen over the weekend, the second time it has occurred this spring.

As SPIDRE Team troopers were working in Montgomery County this past weekend, one trooper was out with an impaired driving arrest while a second trooper was parked behind him to assist, shortly after 2:00 a.m. on the morning of June 14, 2015. A driver on westbound University Blvd, east of September Lane, sideswiped the patrol car and continued on. Troopers stopped the car a short distance away and arrested the driver, who was also impaired.

In another incident, a driver was stopped by a SPIDRE Team trooper on I-95 for traveling 94 mph in a 65 mph zone. The driver said he was on his way to work. He was arrested for impaired driving and his blood alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit. He was transporting his seven-year-old child at the time.

One driver was arrested for impaired driving and, after being charged, was released to his wife. Hours later that same evening, SPIDRE Team troopers saw him driving again, while exhibiting signs of being an impaired driver. He was stopped and, upon further investigation, was arrested a second time for impaired driving. His blood alcohol content was over twice the legal limit during both of his arrests.

During the weekend, the SPIDRE Team arrested 13 impaired drivers, four of whom were repeat offenders, while focusing their patrols on Rts. 650, 29, 97, and 193, Piney Branch Road, Carroll Avenue, I-495 and I-270 in Montgomery County. The average blood alcohol content of those arrested was .17. The legal limit for impaired driving in Maryland is .08.

Throughout the rest of Maryland over the weekend, troopers arrested another 67 impaired drivers. There is no excuse for impaired driving. Please do not drink and drive.