Of the 1,149 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2013, 200 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver
Amherst police arrested four impaired drivers over the long holiday weekend, three of them due to alcohol and the remaining one for driving under the influence of drugs.
And not a single one was a UMass student!
Yes Amherst being a college town, the long weekends usually stimulates a mass exodus of our college aged youth.
Interestingly two of the DUI arrests were coming from downtown bars when they were intercepted by police, one from Stackers Pub and the other from The Spoke.
Kind of makes you wonder if the bars get a tad more desperate for business when the students are gone and serve those who should be shut off.
In Eastern Hampshire District Court on Tuesday two of the four took a standard plea deal the Commonwealth offers to first time offenders. A 24D disposition will cost them $650 in fines/fees, loss of license for 45 days and one year with DUI charge "continued without a finding," aka probation.
But it does save them a couple thousand in legal fees and with a legally admissible Breathalyzer test as evidence against them, the chances of beating the charge is nothing if not slim.
Alex Forrest, age 26, stands before Judge Payne after making a 24D disposition plea
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Cayla Sicard was arrested late Sunday afternoon after hitting another vehicle on busy Rt 9 in East Amherst. She also had her two year old son in the vehicle with her at the time.
Her legally admissible breath test came in at .18 more than twice the legal limit.
And as you can see from the video she failed miserably the 9 step walk and turn test.
Ms. Sicard was released on her own recognizance to appear next month for pre-trial, but she will be subject to random alcohol screenings via the probation department until then.
Allan Tremblay, age 24, also had a pubic defender assigned to him and he will return next month for a pre trial on the charge of OUI drugs