DWI Hot Spots
By ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Rick Cabrera
EL PASO, Texas – No one is safe when a drunk driver takes to the streets, but some streets are more dangerous than others.
With that in mind, ABC-7 poured over data to find El Paso’s D.W.I. hot spots.
During our research, the area near Montana and Hawkins came up time and time again.It’s also where Valerie Talamantes lost her life.
“It’s been 4 months and I’m still waiting for her to come home,” says Robert Talamantes, Valerie’s father.
On December 29th Valerie was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Montana and Hawkins.According to police,that’s when Edison Bayas, a Fort Bliss soldiers just back from Iraq slammed into Valerie’s car.The 19-year old Burges High graduate died at the scene.
“I’m lost. I’m living because I know I have to but I just have a sense of loss for my life,” says Gracie Talamantes, Valerie’s mother.
The 7 members of the El Paso Police Department’s D.W.I Task Force patrol every night to keep drunks off the streets.
On this night, we rode along with officer Jaime Esparza.
“Its kinda like you’re fishing you throw your hook here and there and basically you just pull people over and the more people you pull over the more odds you’re going to find a D.W.I.”, Esparza said.
While Fridays and Saturdays are their busiest nights, Esparza said there are drunk drivers on the road everyday.
“I’ll tell you this we never run out of D.W.I’s. Most of our officers average over 1 a night,” adds Esparza.
As the night progresses, the number of arrests increases.
The ABC-7 I-Team obtained records of the 14,000 D.W.I. arrests from 2007. From 9 to 10 in the evening there were 45 arrests,73 from 10 to 11, then thereis a dramatic increase.
From 11 to midnight 129 arrests and the numbers keep climbing until reaching a peak of 283 D.W.I. arrests during the 2 to 3a.m.
“About 3 or 4 in the morning you start hearing about accidents involving 1 vehicle hitting a guardrail or going off a the roadways into a ditch and that type of thing”, says Esparza.
ABC-7’sresearch also revealed a big strip of Montana is definitely a hot spot for D.W.I’s, including the intersection where Valerie lost her life. There were 19 arrestsbetween Hawkins and Mcrae. A few blocks away on Montana at Magruder, between geronimo and trowbridge, there were 15 arrests.
The most common street for D.W.I’s was Mesa with 145 arrests. The officials DWIhot spotis theCincinnati Street bar area.
I-10 is also a problem spot with 143 D.W.I. Arrests.
“The freeway is like the link to all the bars and clubs because most everyone will get on the freeway to get home”, says Talamantes.
Most of the arrests took place on the Westside near Resler, Sunland Park and Executive Center.
During ABC-7’s ride along,Esparza officer pulled over a suspected drunk driver near Executive Center.
“He smells and his eyes are real glassy. Slurring an all that,”Esparza said.
After the sobriety test,the man was arrested for driving while intoxicated.Officer Esparza said he feels immediate gratification when he makes an arrest.But, he also knows he can’t be everywhere.
Third on the list of streets with D.W.I’s, Lee Trevino with 42. A fourth of those arrests took place near Vista Del Sol.Ten D.W.I. arrests were made there.A couple of other hot spots worth mentioning, Alameda from Midway to Delta and Montwood near Lee Trevino.
