The California Office of Traffic Safety has awarded the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office $178,369 for the continuation of its DUI program, District Attorney Jeff Reisig announced last week.
Formed in 2012, the unit focuses on the prosecution of DUI cases as well as outreach and law enforcement training. The program’s goal is to prevent impaired driving and reduce alcohol and drug-impaired traffic fatalities and injuries.
Deputy district attorneys assigned to the program prosecute the most serious and complex DUI cases, such as those involving injury and death, and those involving drug impairment. They handle these cases through all stages of the criminal process, from the time of the arrest through sentencing.
The funding also allows the team, which includes an investigator specially trained in collision reconstruction, to assist law enforcement in the investigation of fatal and major-injury collisions.
A key component of the program’s goal to prevent impaired driving is community outreach, Reisig said. In 2014, the office launched its “DUI in the Schools” program where the team, in conjunction with its criminal justice partners, brings real DUI trials to local high schools and shows students the dangers and negative consequences of DUI.
The hope is that by seeing a trial firsthand, students will learn to make good choices while driving, Reisig said. This past month, the team conducted DUI trials at Da Vinci Charter Academy in Davis, River City High School in West Sacramento and Esparto High School.
While many DUI cases are alcohol-related, the county has seen a steady increase in drug-related DUIs, Reisig said. In these cases, drivers are commonly being found under the influence of marijuana, prescription drugs, illegal street drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin, or a combination of drugs and alcohol.
For example, on Oct. 2, 2015, Jacqueline Torres of Woodland struck and killed Giuseppe Santuccio on Interstate 80 just outside of Davis while under the influence of Xanax and methadone. She pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of drugs causing great bodily injury and is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday.
Cases such as this one present greater challenges to officers on the streets and to prosecutors than alcohol-related DUIs, Reisig said. As a result, the DUI grant has helped prosecutors and officers develop greater expertise in the investigation and prosecution of these cases.
“Impaired driving is a problem that poses unjustifiable and dangerous risk to everyone on the road,” Reisig said. “This funding from OTS will allow us to continue our efforts on eradicating this problem and protecting the lives of Yolo County citizens every time they get behind the wheel of their car. Through outreach, training and prosecution, we can hope to make impaired driving a thing of the past.”