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On a sunny Sunday, September 20, 2015, around 2 p.m., a red sedan crashed into an exterior brick wall of a Wienerschnitzel fast-food restaurant on Harbor Boulevard in Costa Mesa. Trapped inside the vehicle, and it took Costa Mesa firefighters 30 minutes to free the driver, was Scott Michael Leddy, 26. No one else was reported having injuries from the incident.
Based on police reports and an article in the Orange County Register, the paramedics took Leddy to the hospital to be treated for a head injury. Prior to being transported, Police stated Leddy told them he had been drinking prior to the crash. The police accompanied Leddy to the hospital where he was later arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
It has almost been two years since the Costa Mesa police department disbanded the DUI enforcement unit and taken the two full-time DUI unit officers and reassigned them to patrol duty. In 2014, there were 296 DUI arrests, which was a decrease of 624 from the average of impaired driving arrests from 2008 to 2013 of 899 annually.
Nearby cities like Huntington Beach had 734 arrests for driving under the influence in 2013. Compared with the city of Newport Beach in the same year that reported 432 drunken driving arrests.
The city of Costa Mesa has had a decrease in drunken driving collisions this year. Costa Mesa has reported 36 alcohol-involved collisions through September. The city’s full-year statistics showed 58 alcohol-involved collisions in 2013 and 64 in 2012.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration numbers list the National levels of DUI fatalities have decreased 21 percent from 2003 through 2012. For Costa Mesa, the DUI fatalities in recent years have been remarkably low. In 2012, there were no DUI fatalities, and only 3 in 2013, etc.. The lower statistics are trend officials have linked to public-safety campaigns and aggressive DUI enforcement.
In the latest available report in 2012, the California Office of Traffic Safety notes that out of the state’s cities with a population of 100,000 and less than 250,000, Costa Mesa has the seventh-worst record for alcohol-involved collisions in 2012. Statistics from prior years have the city with similar or even worse rankings.
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Arrested for DUI in Costa Mesa? Those interested in obtaining a free case evaluation can call (844) 241-1221 to speak with a Law Offices of Randy Collins attorney.
