On May 11, 2009, at approximately 9:23 p.m. a passenger car, driven by an intoxicated subject, was traveling through the intersection of Smith-Enke and State Road 347 when it ran the red light and collided with the driver’s door of the other vehicle.
A 60-year old Maricopa resident would later die from injuries she suffered during the collision. It was determined that the other subject was operating his vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of almost three times the legal limit. As a result, this subject was charged with aggravated DUI and manslaughter.
This tragic incident shows the extent of the dangers that surround the operation of a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs (DUI).
In 2008, there were 6,757 alcohol-related vehicle crashes across the state. More than 4,700 people were injured and 324 people were killed. * These figures do not include the over $521 million in property damages associated with alcohol-related crashes. That number sky rockets when emergency personnel and equipment costs, medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and the emotional anguish over injury and loss of loved ones are added.
The Maricopa Police Department has been and will continue to be committed to a high level of traffic enforcement and driver education as an effective way to take impaired drivers off the streets of Maricopa. Drivers that disobey traffic laws are a hazard to everyone else on the road.
This past year, the Maricopa Police Department made 249 DUI arrests and issued over 3,100 citations for other major moving violations, such as speeding and red light violations.
The Maricopa Police Department was recently awarded a grant from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety for $30,000 to do additional DUI enforcement within the city of Maricopa. The Maricopa Police Department will remain proactive, professional and progressive as we enforce Arizona traffic laws and strive for safer streets in the city of Maricopa.
*The Arizona Department of Transportation 2008 Traffic Crash Report
File photo
![One of several flyers for a "TikTok rizz party" is taped to a door in the Maricopa Business Center along Honeycutt Road on April 23, 2024. [Monica D. Spencer]](https://www.inmaricopa.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/spencer-042324-tiktok-rizz-party-flyer-web-218x150.jpg "Maricopa’s ‘TikTok Rizz Party,’ explained")
