From Tony Bizjak and Loretta Kalb:

Nabbing drunk drivers on a Friday night in Sacramento apparently is like shooting fish in a barrel.

The California Highway Patrol proved that again this past weekend when a concentrated strike-force patrol caught 60 people who were under the influence during an eight-hour effort spread over major freeways and surface streets in central and south Sacramento.

CHP officials flooded freeways and unincorporated areas south of the American River with 25 patrol units focused on impaired driving as part of a periodic effort called R.A.I.D. — Rapid Apprehension of Impaired Drivers.

Sixty arrests in one night in Sacramento is not unusual, CHP spokesman Mike Bradley said.

“The south Sacramento area is a high-concentration area for alcohol and drug-related driving offenses,” Bradley said. “We average in the 50s” during strike-force operations. “That is why Sacramento is one of the crash leaders in the state.”

Bradley said arrests peaked about 11 p.m., when after-work drinkers are heading home, and 2 a.m., when the bars close.

Arrests were spread out on highways 99, 50, Interstate 5 and Business 80, as well as major surface streets in unincorporated areas, such as Florin Road, Stockton Boulevard and Franklin Boulevard.

CHP officials said their strike force was financed by anti-drunken driving grants from the state Office of Traffic Safety. That office keeps statistics that show Sacramento city and county have high incidents of alcohol-related injury crashes.

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An off-duty Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy faces felony DUI charges after she drove her SUV through the front of a Natomas Starbucks coffee shop Sunday morning, injuring three people, according to Sacramento police.

Sacramento police spokesman Norm Leong said investigators suspect Lisa Gargano, 37, was under the influence of prescription drugs when she lost control of her vehicle and drove through the front of the store at 3230 Arena Boulevard around 9 a.m. Sunday.

Two people inside, a woman in her 80s and a Starbucks employee in his 20s, suffered non-life threatening injuries.

Witnesses said the elderly woman was pinned between the SUV and the front counter after the vehicle crashed through the bar area, Leong said. Gargano and the two victims were transported to local hospitals.

Leong said Gargano also crashed into the curb and a car in the parking lot before driving into the storefront. Gargano was arrested on a felony charge of driving under the influence, Leong said.

Gargano has been a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy since 2001 and was assigned to the department’s north patrol unit, Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tim Curran said.

Curran said Gargano was placed on paid administrative leave.

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Reporting from Sacramento -  Although he failed to win bipartisan accord on a sweeping, multibillion-dollar plan to address the state’s water problems, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday night backed down on his threat to veto hundreds of bills as punishment for legislative leaders’ inability to reach a deal.

As the midnight deadline for signing or rejecting 704 bills approached, Schwarzenegger said sufficient progress had been made in the water talks, and he planned to act on all of the bills. As negotiations concluded late Sunday, the governor had signed into law 230 bills and vetoed 221.

Those he signed included a measure intended to combat human trafficking and an anti-drunk-driving bill requiring DUI offenders in some counties to install devices in their vehicles that test blood-alcohol content before the vehicles can be started. Those he rejected included bids to force any extension of the 710 Freeway to be done underground, ban pay hikes for top administrators at public universities in bad budget years and tighten oversight on fertility clinics.

Full Story: Schwarzenegger backs away from veto threat, vows to weigh bills on merits

A new California DUI bill by Assemblyman Mike Feuer, a Democrat from Los Angeles officially requires first time DUI offenders in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Tulare counties to install ignition interlock devices in their car which require the driver to test his or her alcohol levels to start the car. The bill was signed by Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday.

Gov. Schwarzenegger also signed a bill by Sen. Bob Huff, a Republican from Diamond Bar, that lets repeat drunken drivers apply for restricted licenses if they install ignition interlock devices on their vehicles.

If you have been accused of a Sacramento DUI you should waste no time contacting a DUI lawyer to protect your rights. From the day of you arrest you have only 10 day to schedule an administrative license hearing with the DMV to avoid license suspension.

The Sacramento County Coroner’s Office released the names of two of the three women killed in a suspected DUI crash on Interstate 80 near Citrus Heights Friday.

Patricia Marshall, 60, and Carissa Bain, 26, both of Sacramento, died in the crash on westbound I-80 near the Antelope Road exit Friday.

Marshall and Bain were passengers in a Honda Accord when their car clipped the back of another vehicle, careened across all westbound lanes and up a dirt embankment before slamming into a tree.

Marshall was in the back seat of the car and was pronounced dead at the scene along with another woman. That victim’s name was still being withheld Sunday pending family notification.

Bain was transported to Mercy San Juan Medical Center, where she died from her injuries a short time later.

The car’s driver Michael Neal remained hospitalized Sunday with a broken pelvis and ribs.

Neal, 51, was driving on a suspended license and was suspected of being under the influence of alcohol and drugs at the time of the crash, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The Glenn County Superior Court confirmed Monday that Neal was arrested on July 29, 2009, on suspicion of driving under the influence with special allegations, driving without a license and driving without insurance. Court records indicate Neal did not appear for a Sept. 8, 2009 hearing on the charges and a bench warrant for his arrest was issued.

The Yolo County Court Executive Office told News10 on Monday that records show Neal was arrested in early 2008 on suspicion of DUI, having an open container, driving without a license, failure to carry insurance and failure to appear in court. A bench warrant for Neal was issued in that incident.

According to Sacramento County court records, Neal was arrested in 1999 for being under the influence of a controlled substance, and in 2008 for possession of marijuana.

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Tags: Sacramento DUI News