Tracking drunk driving over the Memorial Day weekend
Gavin Nguyen
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – Two fatal DUI crashes were reported in Cathedral City over the Memorial Day weekend. Two people were killed and two were arrested from these crashes.
According to the most recent data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 502 people were killed in car crashes in 2022 over the Memorial Day Weekend. 215 of those people were driving drunk, with a blood alcohol content (BAC) above .08%. It’s one of the most dangerous holiday periods for DUI deaths.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department reports six total DUI arrests between Friday, May 23rd and Sunday, May 26th. Three were arrested at its Palm Desert station with an additional three at its Thermal station. Cathedral City also reported two arrests – the two from the back-to-back crashes.
Other local agencies, though, reported a decrease compared to last year. Indio Police arrested no one for drunk driving this year – down from just one during the same period last year. And for Palm Springs: just one arrest, down from five arrested during last year’s Memorial Day weekend.
Sgt. Daniel Anes, of Cathedral City Police Department’s Traffic Bureau, says it’s a roll of the dice when it comes to DUI arrests: sometimes they have many, while other times, they report none.
News Channel 3 is still waiting on the numbers from the California Highway Patrol’s Indio office and Desert Hot Springs.
The bottom line: drunk driving arrests and crashes are preventable.
“It’s just sad. It’s preventable. It didn’t need to happen. People… It it it boggles my mind that there are DUIs still to this day,” Sgt. Anes says.
Friends and family of the two victims killed in Cathedral City over the weekend created GoFundMe campaigns.
You can find the campaign for Yuvinka Ponce, 27, who was killed by a drunk driver while crossing Dinah Shore Drive in Cathedral City, here.
The campaign for Kevin Becerra, who was also killed just hours later in Cathedral City, can be found here.
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