Police Release Holiday DUI Statistics

Santa Barbara Police Department spokesman Paul McCaffrey released statistics for DUI arrests over the “long New Year’s Weekend,” a period that spans the night of December 27 to January 1.

In all, Santa Barbara officers arrested 12 people for operating vehicles while under the influence. Of them, three of the alleged offenders caused accidents with other vehicles. On December 28 at 8:30 p.m., 46-year-old Sandra Lee Carrisosa allegedly caused an accident at the intersection of Las Positas Road and Portesuello Avenue by running a red light. According to the police report, she then fled the scene. She was then arrested for hit and run as well as DUI.

At 12:30 on January 1, a 22-year-old woman allegedly turned left at the intersection of Cliff Drive and Meigs Road. McCaffrey’s report indicated that she struck oncoming car, damaging it and her own vehicle as well. [Editor’s Note: This crime has been expunged from the woman’s record, so we have removed her name from the archive.]

Finally, at 2:50 a.m. that same night, a taxi cab stopped at a red light at the intersection of Garden and Anapamu streets was sideswiped by a van that then fled the scene. With a fare in the back seat giving “moment-by-moment updates to the police, the cabbie chased the van to the 200 block of East Victoria Street. Officers arrived at the scene and arrested 18-year-old Carlos Rivera Rios on charges of hit and run, DUI, driving without a license, driving without insurance. Rios also had a $10,000 warrant out in connection with a different incident in which he drove without a license. McCaffrey’s report noted that at the time of his arrest, Rios was wearing socks and no shoes.

Not all the arrests this weekend happen on roads, however. At 5:30 p.m. on December 30, Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol stopped 18-year-old Andrew Joseph Schoneman for suspected boating while intoxicated. He was later arrested for being under the influence of alcohol and marijuana.