Thread: Road monitors in Pomona

Road monitors in Pomona
Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer
Article Created: 06/24/2008 08:47:32 PM PDT



Photo Gallery:Pomona Checkpoint
POMONA - Modest, expensive, big and small - vehicles of all makes and models made their way through a police checkpoint at Arrow Highway and Fair Avenue on Saturday evening.
Police saw everything that night: bad licenses, expired licenses, Mexican licenses, no license, missing license plates and too much alcohol.

Between 6 p.m. Saturday and and 1:30 a.m. Sunday about 2,200 vehicles went into the checkpoint, and 39 vehicles didn't get through. They were impounded after the drivers violated state law - from being drunk to having a suspended license, police said.

Pomona police Detective John Pomroy checks a driver s license Saturday at a checkpoint on Arrow Highway east of White Avenue. (David Pardo/Correspondent)Checkpoints in Pomona have been the source of controversy in the past and became so again after a four-direction checkpoint at Mission Boulevard and San Antonio Avenue on May 3.

It was carried out with the help of various Los Angeles County law-enforcement agencies that are addressing drunken driving through checkpoints and saturation patrols.

Shortly after that checkpoint, various organizations, residents and others accused police of committing abuses at the checkpoints and called for a halt to the checkpoints while a policy is developed.

Since then, Pomona Police Chief Joe Romero said four-way checkpoints will not be used again in the city although two-way checkpoints will continue.

City Council


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members created a committee to study the issue. That group is set to have its first meeting Monday.
On Saturday night, officers stood at east- and westbound lanes of Arrow Highway, greeted motorists, checked their licenses, thanked them and waved them through.

"We focus on everything that has to do with traffic safety," said Sgt. Patrick O'Malley of the Police Department's Traffic Bureau.

That means they checked for seat-belt use and child-restraint seats, unsafe and aggressive driving and drunken drivers.

Police issued 39 citations for different Vehicle Code violations. Eight people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.

The majority of people who went through the checkpoint had their driver's licenses in hand or were able to dig them up fairly quickly and continue on their way.

Those who didn't have their licenses readily available went to a Fairplex parking area and were greeted by officers, civilian police employees and volunteers.

Some ended up there because the officers at the checkpoint noticed something - a missing front license plate or expired tags.

Tow trucks and their drivers were stationed there as were sworn and civilian police personnel with computers to run checks of drivers or vehicles.

Among the first to lose their vehicle Saturday were two brothers from San Fernando.

Carlos and Luis Lopez came to Claremont to do tile work for a client and on their way home drove into the checkpoint.

They soon found themselves unloading tools and other equipment from their pickup truck after police determined Carlos Lopez had no California driver's license.

Lopez said he didn't have a license because he is undocumented.

"I have a Mexican license, but I didn't know it wouldn't be accepted," he said in Spanish.

Lopez was able to make arrangements to get a ride but before it arrived he was still struggling with what had had happened.

"I live in the San Fernando Valley where there are more Latinos, and this never happened to me before," he said. Still, Lopez said he understood the police officers were doing their job.

A group that included a couple, two small children and a teen didn't make it past the checkpoint because the driver, a resident of Ontario, also was unlicensed.

The family had no way to get home so an officer drove them there.

Officers will try to accommodate people who have no way of getting home, O'Malley said, but they can't always help everyone.

Brice Woffard of Ontario was surprised when police told him his license was suspended.

"But I didn't know it was suspended," he said after calling his mother in Rancho Cucamonga for a ride home.

Another frustrated driver was Todd Baksa, who said he lives in Nevada but stays in Pomona when he is in Southern California on business.

On Saturday he was on his way from a wedding rehearsal dinner when he got caught in the checkpoint, resulting in confusion over his Nevada driver's license, the vehicle's California registration and what exactly was his primary residence.

O'Malley said the details need to be sorted out and probably merit a visit to the Department of Motor Vehicles.

In the meantime, Baksa, who said he will file a complaint with the Police Department over the action, was cited on suspicion of not having a valid California license.

Drivers arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence included a man who has a commercial driver's license and drives for a living, police said

Officers administered a field sobriety test before using a device to measure the man's blood alcohol content.

The legal limit is 0.08 and the man registered 0.15, said police Detective David Sevesind.

"He could have taken your life, mine or someone you love," he said.

O'Malley said the checkpoint locations are selected based on a number of factors, including the number of traffic collisions in the area and DUI arrests.

To prevent being accused of racial profiling, officers will stop every car, O'Malley said.

The purpose of the checkpoints is to deter people who should not be driving from being on the road, O'Malley said.

Getting a drunken driver off the road is important to those working the checkpoints, he said.

"I see it the same as (catching) a gang member," O'Malley said. "Even one (DUI arrest) is very, very important to us."

monica.rodriguez@

inlandnewspapers.com

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http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_9687213

Lopez said he didn't have a license because he is undocumented.

"I have a Mexican license, but I didn't know it wouldn't be accepted," he said in Spanish.

Exactly how stupid are you? They should have had ICE standing by as well.