Los Angeles DUI

Published on: September 2, 2015

She’s No Jewel: Convicted Thief Arrested for DUI

Kayla King has a pretty impressive rap sheet for a 24-year-old. Like many drivers arrested for DUI in Los Angeles she’s had some previous run-ins with the law; now she’s added some more serious new charges to her record.

King, who hails from South Carolina, pleaded guilty last year to grand larceny after stealing almost $38,000 in jewelry from her in-laws. King got off lightly with a sentence of five years’ probation, but she didn’t learn her lesson. Police arrested her for shoplifting earlier this year.

She was out on $500 bond from that charge when officers from the Greenville Police Department pulled her over around 1 in the morning of August 28th. They approached her on either side of the car. King refused to cooperate with their requests to get out of her 2015 Chevrolet coupe, so the officer on the driver’s side of the vehicle tried to reach in and unbuckle her seat belt. That’s when King restarted the car and drove off—dragging that officer with her. The movement threw the other officer, who had been leaning in on the passenger side, into the car.

Fortunately for both officers, King crashed after going a very short distance. But she wasn’t finished. After the wreck, she reached over to the officer who had landed in her car and attempted to grab the gun out of his holster. She wasn’t successful.
King ended up in the hospital after the crash and so did the officer dragged by her car. Both have been released, the officer to his home and King to the Greenville County Detention Center, where she remains held on no bond. She should probably get accustomed to being inside; police have charged her with attempted murder, DUI, kidnapping, possession of a controlled substance and failure to stop.

Do you or a family member need insight from a qualified Los Angeles DUI attorney? Contact Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to set up your free consultation.

Published on: August 26, 2015

DUIs With A Twist

by Michael Kraut

Although there’s no such thing as a typical arrest for DUI in Los Angeles, most cases don’t stand out as memorable for police officers. But sometimes they come across a DUI suspect that they will remember—and are likely tell stories about—for years to come.

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Once such incident occurred recently in Santa Rosa, California. California Highway Patrol officers stopped Christopher McFarlane near College Avenue in the early morning hours of Saturday, August 8th. According to the Press Democrat, they had seen him an hour or so before; he was a passenger in a car they previously pulled over.

Officers eventually arrested the female driver of that car on DUI charges and warned McFarlane—who allegedly appeared drunk—not to attempt to drive for a while. He agreed. But a short time later, as officers were leaving the jail where they had booked McFarlane’s friend, they noticed him behind the wheel of another car. He failed a field sobriety test and the police eventually booked him not only on DUI but also on driving on a suspended license and violating his probation. (McFarlane was on probation because of a previous DUI conviction.)

In Wildwood, Florida, 33-year-old Christina Anne Marie Lamoreaux told officers who charged her with DUI that they should arrest her dog and not her. Lamoreaux had fled the scene after hitting an apartment building with her car. When police caught up with her later in her own apartment she said she had intended all along to pay for the damage. She insisted that the accident wasn’t her fault—if they wanted to arrest someone, they should arrest the dog, who (she claimed) had caused the accident.

But officers, noticing that Lamoreaux smelled of alcohol and appeared confused, asked her take a sobriety test. When she refused, they hauled her off to jail, charging her with DUI, hit and run involving property damage and resisting arrest. (The dog apparently won’t face charges.)

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (and ex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.

Published on: August 21, 2015

Deadly California DUIs

by Michael Kraut

DUI-related accidents in California resulted in several fatalities in early August. Although police didn’t report any deaths due to DUIs in Los Angeles proper around that time, motorists in other parts of the state weren’t as lucky.

According to Long Beach Patch, 28-year-old Alvin B. Shaw had a blood alcohol content level of 0.15 when he headed west in the eastbound lanes of the Gerald Desmond Bridge in Long Beach around 7 a.m. on August 1. He slammed his 2012 Mercedes-Benz into two other vehicles, a 2014 Ford Fusion and a 2010 Nissan pickup. Both Shaw and the Fusion driver ended up in the hospital with critical injuries. But 30-year-old Miguel Gonzalez, the Nissan driver, wasn’t as lucky. Emergency workers pronounced him dead at the scene.

Shaw allegedly was driving on a suspended license, which he had lost because of a previous DUI conviction in 2014. He faces charges of murder and DUI causing injury within 10 years of another DUI offense.

On August 10th, 44-year old Carmen Venegas of Fremont, driving an Acura, hit a Toyota Scion that was stopped perpendicular to traffic on Highway 101. According to witnesses, the Scion had hit the center divider of the road before ending up on the second lane from the right facing the shoulder. That’s where the car was when Venegas broadsided it. After screening Venegas at the scene, police booked her on suspicion of DUI felony driving, driving without a license and felony manslaughter. She had two 14-year old boys plus another adult passenger in the car when the accident occurred.

Garrett James Gelrud, 34, caused a head-on collision near Pala on August 5th, killing the driver of the other car. His Chevrolet Suburban crossed the double yellow lines on Old Highway 395 and rammed into a Nissan Versa driven by 62-year-old Juan Corza Gonzalez. Gelrud ran from the scene but police caught up with him. He faces charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI causing injury.

Designing and executing an effective defense against DUI charges (even simple ones) is not intuitive. Fortunately, you can trust the seasoned, highly successful Michael Kraut. Call a DUI lawyer in Los Angeles with nearly two decades of experience.

Published on: August 17, 2015

DUI Arrest Leads To Brain Tumor Diagnosis

by Michael Kraut

When police pull someone over on suspicion of a DUI in Los Angeles, they rarely find that the driver has a blood alcohol content that measures 0.0. While most people would be angry or upset if police stopped them unjustly, a woman in Frisco, Texas, should be thankful that the officers took action. The arrest set off a chain of events that probably saved her life.

On July 31, Julie Cunningham hit a curb and crashed her car into a fire hydrant after dropping her kids off at daycare, according to KAGS TV. Despite the fact that the breathalyzer showed her BAC at 0.0, police arrested her for DUI, and she spent the night in jail.

Cunningham’s family insists that she doesn’t drink and isn’t taking any medication, so police had no good reason to make the DUI arrest. But they do admit that when her brother picked her up from jail the next morning, Cunningham had slurred speech and no recollection at all of what had happened the day before.

Cunningham’s family took her to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, where tests revealed that she had a tumor the size of a lemon lodged in her brain. Surgeons removed it right away; while the growth wasn’t cancerous, there is some evidence of abnormal cells in the area.

Cunningham has faced some difficult situations before; she enlisted in the Navy after 9/11, spent four years in the service and is currently raising four kids on her own. Although her in-hospital recovery after brain surgery took more than three weeks, there’s one trauma she isn’t facing right now; she has no memory of her arrest or her night in jail. Meanwhile, Frisco police officers haven’t filed any DUI charges against her; while it’s likely they will dismiss the matter, they do have to wait for the toxicology results before they can completely clear her.

Locating a seasoned and qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer is a critical part of the process of reclaiming your life, your time and your peace of mind. Call ex-prosecutor Michael Kraut for a free consultation right now.

Published on: August 12, 2015

Vehicle Damage Leads to DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

Drivers at risk of a charge of DUI in Los Angeles take note: if you want to avoid police notice, don’t drive a vehicle that looks like it’s been involved in a wreck. Had Jonathan Bruno of Raritan Township, New Jersey, followed that advice he might not be facing some serious criminal charges today.

According to the Hunterdon County Democrat, Bruno, age 19, had sideswiped a guardrail along Route 202-31 north just before he met Patrolman Anthony Moreno. The officer wasn’t looking for drivers under the influence; he was on the scene because a fallen tree limb had hit some electrical wires.

But the officer couldn’t help noticing Bruno’s car. It had come out the worse for wear in its encounter with the guardrail, with the passenger side damaged and the front tire on that side flat.

It didn’t take Patrolman Moreno long to figure out that Bruno was in no shape to drive, perhaps due to the heroin and syringe that the officer found in the back of his vehicle. Police eventually charged Bruno with possession of those items and with a whole list of other offenses, including careless driving, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a motor-vehicle crash, failure to report a motor-vehicle crash, driving an uninsured vehicle, violating the terms of his probationary driver’s license and possession of a controlled dangerous substance in a motor vehicle.

A friend came to pick Bruno up from the police station. Since Bruno isn’t likely to get his driver’s license back soon, he may be relying on such rides in the foreseeable future.

In a similar case, police in Hendersonville, Tennessee, responded to a call about a possibly intoxicated driver sitting at a traffic light. When they spotted 19-year-old Ben Steele’s damaged car, they decided to take a closer look. Steele couldn’t tell them what happened—and couldn’t pass the sobriety tests either—but officers eventually traced the damage back to a mailbox he had hit. Officers charged him with failure to report an accident, leaving the scene of an accident, driving under the influence and underage consumption.

Do you need assistance constructing an appropriate response to a DUI charge? Look to the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’ Michael Kraut for insight and peace of mind. Mr. Kraut is an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney with many relevant connections in the local legal community.

Published on: August 5, 2015

Alleged DUI Driver’s Excuse Is All Wet, Say Local Authorities

by Michael Kraut

Drivers charged with a Los Angeles DUI often end up crashing into other vehicles (parked or moving). They may occasionally hit a storefront, a light post, a mailbox, or a home. But there aren’t many reports of people driving under the influence going off the road and driving into the Los Angeles River or some other body of water.

But police in Kennewick, Washington, can now say they’ve had such a driver.

On Wednesday, July 29th, around 3 p.m., emergency workers in that city received a 911 call saying that a car was in the river at the East Boat Launch at Columbia. NBC KNDU said that the caller reported that he and his mother had been on a nearby bridge when they saw the car slipping into the water. The witnesses ran to the scene, where the woman walked into the water and yanked open a rear door to attempt a rescue. But the car was empty.

That’s because the driver, identified only as a man in his late 20s, had apparently made it out of the car and run up a hill—dripping wet—until he reached a gas station and called for help. The Columbia Basin Drive Rescue, the Kennewick Police Department and fire crews all responded to the summons.

When police caught up with the driver, he insisted that he had been trying to take a photo of the river and—probably because he wasn’t paying close attention—he hit the car’s accelerator instead of the brake. That plunged him—and the rental car he was driving–into the water.

While police may have believed that story, they obviously thought there were other factors at play. They charged the driver with DUI.

Do you need help defending against a drug or DUI charge? Michael Kraut of Los Angeles’s Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers is a trustworthy, highly qualified former prosecutor. Call a Los Angeles DUI attorney today to strategize for your defense seriously.

Published on: August 3, 2015

Maybe It Was the Blue Moon [A Bizarre DUI Tale]

by Michael Kraut

Some people claim that full moons can influence people in strange ways, causing unusual behaviors around the time that they appear. July 2015, with its two full moons (the second is known as a blue moon), saw more than its share of unusual DUI stories from around the country. (No word yet on any weird arrests for DUI in Los Angeles during this time.)

Police in Shelbyville, Tennessee, certainly had their hands full when they arrested Lawrence Howard, Jr., age 52, on a charge of DUI. The timesfreepress.com reports that Howard kicked and screamed in the back of the patrol car after the officer hauled him inside. When that didn’t get Howard any results, he started yelling that officers had messed up because he was the one keeping ISIS out of Shelbyville. The cops apparently were unalarmed by the warning, presumably because they had previously seen Howard run a stop sign and fail field sobriety tests.

The police charged Howard not only with DUI but also with running a stop sign, disorderly conduct, refusing a blood test, and failing to have proof of insurance.

In West Windsor, Pennsylvania, meanwhile, a golfer who had probably spent too much time at the 19th hole decided to take his golf cart out for a drive. Geoffrey Kleid, age 43, apparently didn’t like the fact that a golf course ranger who saw him driving erratically tried to make him stop the cart. Instead of coming to a halt, he veered onto Village Road West where he struck a car.
Police charged Kleid not only with DUI but also with reckless driving, careless driving and failure to stop or yield.

Do you or a family member need insight from a qualified Los Angeles DUI attorney? Contact Michael Kraut of the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers to set up your free consultation.

Published on: July 27, 2015

DUI Drivers Lose Their Shot at Parent Of The Year

by Michael Kraut

Drivers arrested for a Los Angeles DUI won’t win any medals for good conduct. But they do open themselves up to strong condemnation when they put their children at risk by loading them into a vehicle and then driving under the influence. Unfortunately, newspapers throughout the U.S. report this kind of incident almost every day.

For instance, the Daily Press in Talequah, Oklahoma, reported that Lucy Danielle Sanders, age 27, buckled her 21-month-old son into his car seat but left one of his arms dangling out of the harness. She drove off, but police picked her up after she allegedly crossed the white line on a local bypass. Sanders not only failed the field sobriety test; she couldn’t complete it, because she couldn’t keep her balance, according to reports. The charges the cops filed against her included driving under the influence of drugs, child endangerment and failing to properly restrain a child.

At least Sanders made an attempt to secure her child in the car. When police stopped Joseph Ramos in South Windsor, Connecticut, a few days later, his young child allegedly was asleep in the back seat without even a seat belt buckled around him for protection. Police stopped Ramos, age 41, for a traffic violation. But then officers noticed that he appeared to be driving under the influence. Ramos failed a road sobriety test, and officers carted him off to jail, where they charged him with DUI, risk of injury to a minor, failure to wear a seat belt and failure to secure a child.

There’s no word on what happened to the kids in either case, but hopefully they made it home safely in the custody of a sober driver.

Do you need assistance constructing an appropriate response to a DUI charge? Look to the Kraut Criminal & DUI Lawyers’ Michael Kraut for insight and peace of mind. Mr. Kraut is an experienced Los Angeles DUI attorney with many relevant connections in the local legal community.

Published on: July 23, 2015

Racing to Jail: A Terrifying DUI Story

by Michael Kraut

Police officers frequently cite motorists arrested for DUI in Los Angeles for related offenses such as speeding and running red lights. In Los Banos, California, one motorist’s behavior recently resulted in another far more grievous charge—vehicular manslaughter.

ABC 30 reports that 20-year-old Marcus Perez-Negrete and 19-year-old Casey Giannone had spent the evening drinking before they decided to top off the night with a little street racing. They sped down Santa Rita Avenue; when Negrete got to the stop sign at D Street, he allegedly didn’t bother to stop.

As Perez-Negrete’s blue Saturn Astra barreled through the intersection, it struck a red Chevy Aveo. The Astra flipped over, landing on its roof. Perez-Negrete walked away from the crash; so did his passenger.

Although the 64-year-old driver of the Aveo survived the crash, his 61-year old passenger and co-worker wasn’t as lucky. He died from his injuries. The two men had double bad luck that day; they couldn’t work at their picking jobs, because the field was flooded, and their unplanned return home put them right in the path of Perez-Negrete’s car.

The crash startled people living along the quiet street, waking them with a noise that one resident described as sounding like a bomb exploding.

Police wasted little time in sizing up the situation and taking Perez-Negrete to jail. They charged him with driving under the influence and with vehicular manslaughter. The court set his bond at a substantial $400,000. While his street race competitor didn’t face the manslaughter charge, cops charged her with DUI, reckless driving and driving without a license.

Locating a seasoned and qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer is a critical part of the process of reclaiming your life, your time and your peace of mind. Call ex-prosecutor Michael Kraut for a free consultation right now.

Published on: July 15, 2015

DUI Driver Damages Dwelling – Astonishing Story of Destruction

by Michael Kraut

Local TV and newspapers frequently report on DUIs in Los Angeles or other incidents where motorists smash into homes, restaurants or other buildings. It’s usually an accidental encounter. But when Cheri Tenney ran her vehicle into her home, it appeared to be very deliberate.

Tenney, who lives in Seminole, Florida, may have been doing a little too much celebrating of the Fourth of July holiday before she arrived home in the early evening. Her first attempt to drive her 2005 GMC Envoy into her garage didn’t end well. She hit the wall and then tried to back out. When Tenney wasn’t successful with that maneuver, she gave up and went into her home.
But she didn’t remain there long. According to police reports, Tenney got into her car again around 10 p.m. (clearing the garage this time) and then sat in her driveway revving the engine. Then she simply put the Envoy in gear and rammed it through her front window, coming out the back window.

Most people would have had enough at this point. Not Tenney. She put the car in reverse and slammed through the home again, this time moving from back window to front window. She brought the vehicle to a stop on the front lawn and left it parked there when she returned to the house.

By this time worried neighbors had alerted police. The police report doesn’t give any details on what happened once the officers entered the home, except to say that Tenney was only half dressed. She must have assaulted one of the cops, however, because they charged her with battery on a police officer as well as DUI once they got her to the police station.

Talk about creating your own fireworks for the Fourth!

How should you respond to your recent and disarming charges? Call a qualified Los Angeles DUI defense lawyer (and ex-prosecutor) with nearly two decades of relevant legal experience.