Police Arrest More Than 160 People For Memorial Day Drunk Driving

More than 160 people were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving in Riverside County over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, authorities said today.

The arrests were made during a three-day drunken driver crackdown conducted by the “Avoid The 30” campaign, which is named for the number of police agencies that operate in the county.

Law enforcement officers across the nation’s third-largest county staffed seven sobriety checkpoints and 20 saturation patrols to nab liquor- or drug-impaired motorists.

Between 12:01 a.m. Friday and 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, 162 people were taken into custody, compared to 169 arrests during the group’s Memorial Day weekend crackdown last year, authorities said.

There was one drunken driving-related crash in Hemet that resulted in major injuries, but no fatal wrecks were reported.

Task force leaders plan another enforcement detail over the July 4th holiday weekend and in the two weeks leading up to Labor Day, authorities said.