23-year-old Sean Sperl of Lansdale, who was found guilty in the death of a friend in a 2013 accident, was cleared of the DUI homicide charge by a jury. Sperl was facing the most serious charge of DUI homicide, after the crash that killed 21-year-old Ryan Petrille. However, the same jury that convicted him of the charge now acquitted him. The accident caused by Sperl resulted in the explosion of his car that split in half, resulting in the death of his friend. The incident took place on 22 April, 2013 when Sperl, Petrille, and Ryan Benner went to Phillies…Read More
It started as a perfectly fine day in April when a group of 21-year-olds from Lansdale went to Citizens Bank Park where they drank beer and liquor before and during the game when Phillies beat the Pirates, 3-2. The perfect day soon turned tragic as hours later, one of the group members lay dead in Salford Township after being thrown from the backseat of a car that hit a utility pole. The member, identified as Ryan Petrille, was abandoned by two of his friends as they fled the scene, leaving his body behind. Details of the incident were revealed Monday…Read More
According to court administrator Michael Kehs, Montgomery County is reverting back to the old system from the pilot-program that segregated DUI cases into a separate court. According to Kehs, DUI cases in Montco constitute between a quarter and a third of the inventory each year. The workload becomes too much for one judge to handle, and due to the heavy caseload, they have to revert back to the old system. Unlike courts in the other 12 Pennsylvania counties, which consist of the drug court and the treatment-based DUI courts, the DUI court in Montco was not a treatment court. In…Read More
HARRISBURG, PA. – A legislation was unanimously approved by the Pennsylvania Senate which approved the use of ignition interlock devices for those who are caught driving under the influence. The bill would allow DUI offenders to be eligible for an ignition interlock device, which will be set up in their primary vehicle and a limited license would be set up under Senate Bill 290 for drivers who do not have a prior offense in the last 10 years. Senate Bill 290 now moves to the House of Representatives for consideration. Senator John Rafferty, who sponsored the bill, said that according to…Read More
MADD President David Griffin resigned from his volunteer position as president of the MADD East Prince County chapter after he was charged with impaired driving. 65-year-old Griffin, who is a former deputy chief Summerside Police Services and a 45-year veteran of the force, was charged with impaired driving in June. At that time, he was the volunteer president of the local chapter. He immediately notified MADD Canada and resigned from his post. The news was announced Tuesday by Andrew Murie, the organization’s CEO. Murie states that protocols are followed for everybody in the organization, including volunteers and staff. “Any infractions…Read More
According to a recent study conducted and funded partly by the federal government, alcohol has a greater impact on drivers as compared to marijuana. Researchers carried out this study to understand and find the impact of alcohol and cannabis on drivers and concluded that alcohol had a significant impact as compared to cannabis. Drivers who had consumed alcohol had “significantly increased lane departures/minimum as well as maximum lateral acceleration; these measures were not sensitive to cannabis.” The research also concluded that cannabis-influenced drivers attempted to drive more cautiously “to compensate for impairing effects, whereas alcohol-influenced drivers often underestimate their impairment…Read More
Former Philadelphia Police Sgt. Thomas Winkis was involved in a fatal crash one night in 2013. He was travelling at a speed of 35 to 40 miles per hour when another driver pulled out in front of him who was turning onto State from Ashburner Street in Holmesburg. According to police present at the scene that night, the sergeant seemed sober. The officer at the scene told that Farries pulled out in front of him as he was driving 35 to 40 m.p.h. However, when a prosecutor provided evidence stating that he was legally intoxicated in a hearing on Monday,…Read More
NETHER PROVIDENCE TWP. – A sobriety checkpoint is planned in Delco this weekend, as announced by the Nether Providence Police Department on Thursday. The checkpoint will be conducted from Friday through Sunday between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m. According to the police, the checkpoint will focus on identifying those drivers who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Their aim is to stop these impaired drivers before they are involved in a collision, thereby increasing the safety of all motorists on the roadways. A report published in the Inquirer stated, “This event symbolizes the commitment of the Nether Providence Police…Read More
32-year-old Meredith Williams-Earle was arrested and put behind bars after she was involved in a fatal drunk driving crash on the morning of 6 August 2013. Williams-Earle, who is from Lower Merion, holds a degree in education and was teaching Latin at Interboro High School in Delaware County where she used to spend her own money to support her students. On the morning of the incident, she bought a prescription sedative, gulped down some champagne, before filling a plastic cup with whiskey and heading out. She then strapped her 2-year-old son loosely in the car seat of her Toyota Prius…Read More
As states like Pennsylvania ponder over the changes needed to toughen drunken driving laws, and Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman takes measures to get repeat offenders off the roads, the state of Ohio takes a more visible but different approach to fight repeat drunk driving. The state of Ohio has been issuing special license plates for DUI offenders since 1967, also called “party plates” or “scarlet letter plates”. The plates, which are yellow in color, have red-lettering on them and were ordered to be issued by judges. However, an overhaul of Ohio’s drunken driving laws in 2004 authorized the…Read More