Vancouver police made 12 arrests for suspected impaired driving from Tuesday night to Wednesday morning. That’s a 500 p.c enhance over New Yr’s Eve 2023.
Solely two arrests have been made final yr, performing Cmdr. Kathy McNicholas mentioned.
The Clark County Sheriff’s Workplace additionally made extra New Yr’s Eve DUI arrests this yr. Deputies arrested three drivers, Sgt. Chris Skidmore mentioned. Two arrests have been made in 2023, he mentioned, and none in 2022.
DUI arrests on New Yr’s Eve have been decrease throughout the pandemic as a result of companies have been closed and there have been fewer gatherings, McNicholas mentioned. Site visitors officers have been additionally extra cautious about making face-to-face contact with drivers or overcrowding jails throughout that point, she mentioned.
The variety of DUI arrests in Vancouver might be trending larger or it might be returning to pre-pandemic numbers — or, McNicholas mentioned, “a combination of both.”
“Twelve is a little high but not terribly,” she mentioned.
Six of the arrests in Vancouver concerned crashes, though there have been no accidents, Donaldson mentioned.
In unincorporated Clark County, no car-versus-car crashes occurred on New Yr’s Eve because of suspected impaired driving, though one automobile did go off the highway and right into a ditch, Skidmore mentioned. That driver was evaluated at a hospital earlier than being booked into jail, he mentioned.
It will also be harmful off the highway on New Yr’s Eve. On Tuesday night time, a suspected impaired driver crashed right into a home at 138th Avenue and thirty second Circle in Vancouver’s Picture neighborhood. Harm was minor, and residents suffered no accidents, however the automobile hit a avenue signal and knocked down a streetlight pole, McNicholas mentioned.
The Vancouver Police Division’s first DUI arrest on New Yr’s Eve 2024 was at 5:03 p.m. Tuesday after a visitors collision close to Northeast twenty eighth Avenue and 127th Avenue, Donaldson mentioned. The final arrest was made at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday following a visitors cease close to Northeast 112th Avenue and Ninth Avenue.
Skidmore mentioned the sheriff’s workplace’s first New Yr’s Eve DUI arrest was at 8:34 p.m. close to Northeast Dallas Avenue and Third Avenue in Camas, and the final was at 1:56 a.m. Wednesday within the 5500 block of Northeast 199th Avenue.