District Attorney's Office Awarded DUI Grant For Fifth Year

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA – For the fifth consecutive year, the San Diego County District Attorney's Office has received a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to prosecute DUI cases involving fatalities and some serious injury cases, it was announced Tuesday.

As part of the $258,946 grant and with assistance from the California Traffic Safety Resource Program, the DUI Homicide Unit will continue to coordinate and participate in DUI prevention and awareness in schools, military bases and colleges. It will also continue to provide training to local law enforcement agencies.

"This year is on track to be as bad as or worse than the deadly high for fatal DUIs in 2017. There have been 19 defendants charged with DUI murder or manslaughter this year alone," San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan said. "Every year we see lives shattered by death and injury – all for something that is 100 percent preventable."

In 2017, San Diego County had one of its worst years for DUI fatalities in the past 15 years. The District Attorney's Office prosecuted 25 DUI fatality cases, up from 17 in 2016 and 18 in 2015.

Last year, more than 9,934 DUI-related cases were prosecuted in San Diego County. Of that number, the District Attorney's Office prosecuted 409 DUI- with-injury cases, down from 448 in 2016.

The DUI Homicide Unit streamlines complex DUI cases, resulting in quicker resolutions, and creates uniformity in sentencing among the four adult courthouses in San Diego County. The unit also helps law enforcement adapt to changes in technology by having a designated district attorney investigator trained in the latest techniques in collision reconstruction.

By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock