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Hispanics Carry Lopsided Share Of DWI Arrests
POSTED: 6:55 pm EDT May 2, 2006
UPDATED: 7:17 pm EDT May 2, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. -- WRAL has found that 33 percent all drunken drivers arrested in Wake County are Hispanic. According to the latest census numbers, Hispanics make up just 7 percent of Wake County's population.
This past weekend in Wake County, 69 people were arrested and charged with DWIs. Twenty-three of those drivers were Hispanic. And that’s just one charge -- many of them face other charges including not having a valid license.
People on both sides of this issue say more education is the key to helping solve this problem.
“We've known for some time that the Hispanic population is overrepresented in DWI arrests and DWI collisions,” said Lt. Everett Clendenin with the North Carolina Highway Patrol.
The Highway Patrol says that while Hispanics make up roughly 7 percent of the state's population, they make up more than 17 percent of the patrol's DWI arrests and are involved in 15 percent of their alcohol-related crashes.
“In Mexico and other Latin communities, traffic laws are not taken as seriously as they are here in North Carolina and also in our nation,” said Clendenin.
“I definitely don't want the police targeting me based upon how I look, and I don't want them targeting me because I came out of a certain store or nightclub,” said defense attorney Ricardo Velasquez.
Velasquez said he believes racial profiling has something to do with the high numbers, but the statistics appear to be too high and too consistent to simply be the result of selective enforcement. And Velasquez agrees that his clients don't always understand the laws and their severity.
“I think that there needs to be more education in that area,” he said. “That's why we do emphasize, we talk to them about what happened the first time and what's going to happen next time.”
“We're trying to encourage our district commanders to get out and work with Hispanic communities,” said Clendenin. “We want to do that. We want to share this important message.”
The Highway Patrol recently appointed a Hispanic liaison to work with this community on this issue. Defense attorneys say one roadblock to the process right now is that undocumented immigrants have a hard time getting valid licenses, which is the foundation of being a legal driver.
Reporter: Amanda Lamb
Photographer: Courtney Davis
Online Editor: Dana Franks
Copyright 2006 by WRAL.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
http://www.wral.com/news/9149836/detail.html
Jewish criminality came way before Herzl founding the ideology of Zionism.
Brett Quinn aka Jett Rink - likes "classy" coke and is a Jew whore lover.
Posted : 02/05/2006 4:52 pm
Christ, how did I know "racial profiling" would come up...
Truth is, in most places, the cops are sitting outside of WHITE bars, since whites are much more likely to pay the fines and pay the increased insurance premiums. There is no return on investment in nabbing Pedro when he's blowing his $125/week check in the bar on Frday.
As a matter of fact, although cops have zero tolerence with whites in DWI issues, they face profiling charges if they nab too many negroes or latrinos, so they probably give most of them an escort home.
Posted : 02/05/2006 5:48 pm
Check the police blotter in the local paper of any small town that has recently been innundated with mexiscum.
I have personally seen it. Small town, no spics...police blotter lists 2 or 3 things. Tyson builds a chicken plant and imports mexishits to work it and the police blotter almost immediately becomes a full page...almost all of it mexican names arrested for DUI, reckless driving, etc.
Posted : 02/05/2006 6:00 pm