Man Arrested For 11th DWI
Ten arrests and seven convictions for driving drunk. And yet, 50-year-old Samuel Casares was still driving.
This weekend police arrested Casares for driving drunk – his 11th DWI. �@ District Attorney Jaime Esparza sat down with ABC-7 and said since Casares’s first several arrests in the ’80s the rules just weren’t as tough regarding drinking while driving. �@ “As times have changed it’s one of those offenses we take very seriously, ” Esparza explained.
Esparza said Casares is on 10 years probation for a previous DWI felony conviction – his second one.
Seven years ago, Casares was also ordered to use an interlock system — that’s where you must blow into a device to test your blood alcohol level before you can start your vehicle.
“It’s not like we haven’t been watching him, ” said Esparza.
He says just last year, Casares was even court ordered to take Antabuse–a medicine that causes a negative reaction to alcohol.
According to El Paso Police, it was about 10 p.m. when Casares was pulled over for a traffic violation just a few blocks away from his home.
The officer smelled some alcohol and arrested him with his eleventh DWI.
ABC-7 stopped by his home, but a woman who would only identify herself as his girlfriend answered the door and didn’t say much. �@ But Mothers Against Drunk Drivers had something to say.
“It is not only the responsibility of the individual committing the crime but also the legal system and we as family/friends and members of the community,” MADD said.
The I-team found despite his series of arrests, Casares has a current driver’s license.
Esparza says that’s because, “In the early ’80s we weren’t nearly as strict as we are now.” �@ “He is subject to a harsher punishment than even he expects,” said Esparza. Casares is facing a fine of up to $10,000 and up to ten years in prison.
Casare’s DWI History Casares’s 1st D-W-I charge was a misdemeanor in 1985, then gain in 1988, twice in 1989, in 1990 he received his first felony charge, in 1991 another misdemeanor, and in 1999 another DWI felony.
