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DUI arrests up in Avoid the 12 holiday crackdown
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The Memorial Day weekend "Avoid the 12" DUI enforcement campaign has concluded with the deployment of two sobriety checkpoints, six special DUI saturation patrols and officers on routine patrol focusing special attention towards the impaired driver working to lower death and injuries.

A total of 40 drivers were arrested by 12 law enforcement agencies between 12:01 a.m. Friday through midnight Monday. The drivers were deemed to be either impaired by alcohol or narcotics. In 2012, only four DUI arrests occurred during Memorial Day holiday weekend.

There were no DUI related fatalities in Stanislaus County this past weekend. These numbers are in comparison to last year's total of four during the same Memorial Day weekend in 2012.

Ceres Police had an incident late Sunday at around 11 p.m. where a driver turned around to avoid going through a DUI checkpoint in the westbound lanes of the 3000 block of Hatch Road. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle but the driver fled at a high rate of speed eastbound on Hatch Road. The driver turned south onto Eastgate Boulevard and continued at speeds over 80 mph with officers in pursuit. The driver was traveling too fast to negotiate the roundabout at Helen Perry Road and collided into several raised concrete barriers disabling his vehicle. Officers arrested Bernabe Orejel, 30, of Ceres. He was found to be DUI over double the legal limit. Orejel has a prior DUI and was driving against a DUI restricted license during this incident.

Law enforcement officials will be conducting more "Avoid" anti-DUI efforts throughout the county and region during the Independence Day holiday period and the 18-day campaign in August ending Labor Day weekend.

Police, Sheriff and the CHP encourage all motorists to watch and report impaired drivers to 911.

Funding for the program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Avoid programs, named for the number of police agencies in each county, will be conducting other enforcement efforts during special events with identified DUI problems.