Several Arrested Friday During DUI Crackdown
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PINECREST (CBSMiami) Helen Witty's daughter has been gone for 18 years. She was hit and killed while rollerblading on a bike path in Pinecrest.
"She was run down by a 17-year-old who was drunk and stoned," Witty said.
Since her daughter's death, Witty has pushed to stop drunk drivers in their path.
This Labor Day weekend, and for the past three years, she has teamed up with officers in multiple agencies for DUI crackdowns.
"Our goal tonight is to educate and to stop drunk drivers," said Sergeant Edison Cruz of the Pinecrest Police Department.
Officers have been patrolling since Friday night and will continue through the holiday weekend, which cops said is one of the most dangerous times of the year.
"We have a lot of people nationwide lose their lives to impaired drivers," Cruz said.
Friday night, red and blue lights dotted 150 blocks of U.S. 1 in Southwest Miami-Dade. From 10 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday, twelve people were arrested as part of the crackdown in Pinecrest, five of them for DUI, police said. Pinecrest Police also issued 75 tickets for moving violations, 40 speeding tickets and 78 other citations.
Police said some people don't realize their limits, so police are driving around with mobile laboratories equipped with urine tests, blood tests and breathalyzers.