CHP looks to crack down on DUI incidents after fatal crashes

SACRAMENTO — In less than a month, five California Highway Patrol officers have been struck by vehicles while helping motorists on local freeways — five too many, say agency officials. In response, the CHP is launching an anti-DUI campaign.

Of the last five collisions involving CHP vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area, three were DUI related, officials said. These crashes resulted in the fatal injury to CHP Officer Andrew Camilleri and injuries ranging from minor to moderate to three other CHP officers, they said.

The two other collisions involving CHP patrol vehicles were not DUI related. In those, one was caused by an errant speeding driver and the other by an elderly driver who drove on the freeway shoulder before impacting a parked CHP motorcycle officer.

“All of the collisions could have been prevented through responsible driving by the motorists,” Golden Gate Division Chief Ernie Sanchez said in a statement.

Driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs is against the law, officials noted. Through Jan. 31, the motoring public can expect to see the CHP out in force, looking to apprehend impaired drivers before they injure or kill themselves or other innocent motorists, they said.

As a show of force, all available personnel, including command staff, middle managers, supervisors, and officers have committed to proactively patrol all state highways with a zero tolerance approach to drunk and/or drugged drivers, CHP officials said. Through funding support of the Office of Traffic Safety, CHP task forces will “rove” San Francisco Bay Area freeways looking for impaired drivers, they said.

“The CHP has lost one officer, another is in the hospital with two broken legs, and two others have been sent to the hospital, all because some drivers chose to be irresponsible,” Sanchez said. “It is not common that the chiefs and command staff go out on patrol to arrest impaired drivers, but we intend to do just that. The CHP’s core mission is to save lives and prevent injuries and we intend to do just that.”