Thread: ESCONDIDO, CA: Protest held against driver's license checkpo

ESCONDIDO: Second driver in head-on wreck dies

ESCONDIDO ---- The second driver involved in a head-on crash in north Escondido earlier this week died Thursday, a spokesman for the county medical examiner's office said.

Javier Medrano, 20, died Thursday morning at Palomar Medical Center in Escondido. He was taken to the hospital with traumatic head injuries Tuesday evening after his southbound sport utility vehicle veered into the northbound lane on North Centre City Parkway near Deer Springs Road and collided head-on with a minivan, the spokesman said. Both vehicles carried only their drivers.

The minivan's 56-year-old driver, Kathleen Joy Powell of Valley Center, was pronounced dead at the scene.

The California Highway Patrol is investigating the crash.

The medical examiner's office did not know where Medrano lived.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/11 ... 73573b.txt

Dear Skip,

According to the CHP the driver was underage and under the influence. When we wrote the story that had not yet been determined. I talked with the CHP today and they said the investigation is still active and they are looking into where he was and who supplied him with alcohol. If any new info is released we will do another story.


Debbi Baker
Staff writer / Union-Tribune breaking news team
Office: 619 293-1710
Cell: 619 980-8840
Email: debbi.baker@uniontrib.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Skip[mailto:Skip@ .mil]
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 3:18 AM
To: Baker, Debbi; cnichols@nctimes.com
Subject: RE Accident in Escondido


Was the male driver of the car, Drunk, impaired, licensed or insured?

The family of the deceased woman seems to think he was drinking.

The local newspapers are not carrying this story.

R/ Skip

MVet
[-] wrote on Nov 6, 2008 6:52 PM:
I know this may sound cold to some, But the first question I must ask is did both drivers have a driver's license and insurance. And then go from there. The numbers don't lie.

Office of traffic Safety California

http://www.ots.ca.gov/

MVet
[-] wrote on Nov 6, 2008 7:14 PM:
RE: The medical examiner's office could not immediately say where Medrano lived.

Why didn't they just check his drivers license and where the car was registered to?


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/11 ... 73573b.txt

*

The newspaper took out the part about not being able to find out where he lived.

Thank you for following up on this story Skip and good to see you back with us.

It just burns me up when the paper runs stories against the check points and inocent peopele are getting killed.

This add on story is a true tragedy, and they so far are not covering it.

R/ Skip

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/11 ... 131845.txt

Skip
[-] wrote on Nov 19, 2008 10:37 PM:
It just burns me up when the paper runs stories like this, against the check points and inocent peopele are getting killed in Escondido.

The story of the woman killed in the head-on crash is a true tragedy, and so far the NCT is not covering it.

ESCONDIDO: Police impound 72 vehicles at checkpoint

Numbers increasing as checkpoints continue

By CHRIS NICHOLS - Staff Writer | Saturday, November 22, 2008 9:33 PM PST ∞

ESCONDIDO ---- Police impounded 72 vehicles ---- one of the highest totals in recent months ---- during a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint Friday night, an Escondido Police Department report states.

The total was much higher than two recent Escondido checkpoints, Nov. 10 and Oct. 25, where 33 and 45 vehicles were impounded, respectively.

The use of driver's license checkpoints has come under fire lately by North County civil rights groups, many from the Latino community. Many call them unjust and a ploy to inspect drivers' immigration status.

Roughly 200 people at a Nov. 15 demonstration at Grape Day Park protested the city's use of driver's license checkpoints. Other people have supported the department's use of the checkpoints, saying they help remove unsafe drivers from the road.

Friday's checkpoint ran from 6:30 p.m. to 12:15 a.m. Saturday at Valley Parkway and Juniper Street.

Of 1,832 vehicles screened, 110 were sent to a secondary checkpoint after drivers could not produce a license or appeared under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Three drivers were arrested for driving under the influence. One was arrested for possession of illegal drugs and another was arrested for a felony warrant, the report said.

Among the drivers of the 72 vehicles impounded, 68 did not have a license,19 did not have automobile insurance and eight had a suspended license.

Escondido police conduct the separate driver's license checkpoints (not necessarily targeted at DUI drivers) about twice a month.

Police officials maintain that both types of checkpoints bolster traffic safety, saying studies have linked unlicensed drivers to a greater percentage of traffic accidents.

Critics contend the license checkpoints are unjust and disproportionately affect working-class, immigrant Latinos, many of whom are ineligible under state law to get driver's licenses because of their status as illegal immigrants.

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (760) 740-5426 or cnichols@nctimes.com.

http://nctimes.com/articles/2008/11/23/ ... 0401bb.txt

Critics contend the license checkpoints are unjust and disproportionately affect working-class, immigrant Latinos, many of whom are ineligible under state law to get driver's licenses because of their status as illegal immigrants.

They might as well whine about it.
It usually works for illegals, just not us true Americans.

I just love reading articles like this.Why not send out some minutewomen
cheerleaders to the next checkpoint to rah rah every time a vehicle
is taken off the streets!

I saw a posting about the questions lingering about my Mother's death as a result of being killed by a drunk driver. Kathleen Powell hit and killed by Javier Medrano.

I've begged for a follow up story to be done by the media who briefly reported it over the 3 days between the night Mr. Medrano chose to drink and drive and kill my Mother and the resulting couple of days it took him to die from his injuries. No further reporting will be done because really, no one cares after a few weeks go by. Of course, it was also "Election Night" and if you weren't a celebrity, nothing would be written about you.

I can tell you it has been determined by authorities he was a 20yr old hispanic male driving home after work. He was drunk and there are further toxicology tests pending. He was driving the wrong way in my Mother's lane of traffic. He'd been doing so for over a mile and he was speeding. It has also been determined by authorities thus far, his vehicle was not insured and it was also in the midst of reposession.

Now, if I can verify these facts, why can't the reporters assigned by the local papers to cover the accident? I can tell you why, DUIs happen every single day and statistically when it is a young, hispanic male perpetrator, it's not given much thought.