Worcester tops Maryland counties for DUI conviction rate.

 

Worcester County Sheriff's Office  

Worcester County's DUI Conviction Rate Was the Highest in the State!

Every year around August, the National Study Center (a subsidiary of University of Maryland Shock Trauma) does an analysis of the DUI arrests that were made during the previous calendar year (2023).  Our conviction rate, in Worcester County, has been the highest in the state for many years now.  The total number of arrestable cases in Worcester County for 2023:  898 Impaired driving arrests. This past calendar year, Worcester County had a conviction rate of 90.7%!  We are thankful for our States Attorney’s Office in securing these convictions.  We are proud of our allied law enforcement partners in our county, for being the best partners!

Under The Influence and On The Road -- AGAIN

BISHOPVILLE — A 45-year-old Bishopville woman has been charged with several traffic violations for the second month in a row after sideswiping an oncoming car Sunday morning.

Kim Hinkley, of Back-Creek Road in Bishopville, was charged with driving while under the influence of alcohol, driving without a license, negligent driving, unsafe lane change, driving on a revoked license and failure to obey designated lane directions.

Sunday morning around 10 a.m., Maryland State Police say Hinkley was driving east on Rt. 367 when she allegedly crossed the center line and sideswiped another vehicle, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.

Hinkley was charged on June 21 with similar charges including driving under the influence of alcohol, driving on a suspended license and failure to display license to a police officer. Hinkley was previously found guilty of driving under the influence of alcohol in June of 2009.

Source; http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20110725/NEWS01/110725010/WORCESTER-CRIME-Woman-faces-DUI-charges-after-crash?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Worcester County Times|s

Two Local Police Officers Arrested For DUI

Officer Acquitted on DUI Charge
Exmore Police Officer Raymond Justice, III was found not guilty for Driving Under the Influence and Failure to Maintain Control of a Vehicle at his court hearing on January 26th. The charge of Refusal to Submit to Sobriety Testing was dimissed on a technicality. The incident occured on October 30, 2010.

Upon learning of the charges against Justice, the Town of Exmore put him on administrative leave and he was later suspended without pay or benefits.

The Town has decided to continue the suspension until the Exmore Police Department conducts its own internal investigation.


Local Officer Involved in Accident and Charged with DUI
According to a Criminal Complaint filed in the General District Court in Accomac, Onley Town Police Officer Mark Whitney has been arrested on charges of driving while intoxicated after involvement in a two car accident on January 27th. Officer Whitney was arrested and released.

Since that time Officer Whitney has resigned.

www.shoredailynews.com

Driver Charged With DUI In Single Car Crash

It was after 3:00 this morning when a vehicle collision occurred on Route 610 in Maryland in the area of Shavox Church Road in Worcester County. The collision involved one vehicle which went off the road, collided with a ditch and overturned in a farm field. The vehicle then caught fire and was fully engulfed in flames. The driver was able to free herself. Kristine Wenger was taken to the hospital to be treated for injuries and is in stable condition. Wenger has been charged with DUI, negligent driving and related offenses

TRAFFIC COLLISION PRESS RELEASE:

DATE & TIME: 09-25-2010 @ 0320 hours

Case # 10-96-006360

LOCATION: MD 610 W/O Shavox Church Road, Worcester County, MD

VEHICLE 1: 2004 Honda, MD Registration: 9BSJ06
DRIVER 1: Kristina Lynn Wenger, 40 YOA, Ocean City, MD

NARRATIVE:

On September 25th, 2010 at 0320 hours, Troopers from the Maryland State Police Berlin Barrack responded to a personal injury collision which occurred on MD 610 W/O Shavox Church Road, Worcester County, Maryland. The collision involved a single vehicle which had left the roadway, collided with a ditch, and overturned in a farm field. As a result of the collision, the vehicle caught fire and became fully engulfed. The driver, 40-year old Kristina Wenger, was able to free herself from the vehicle. She was transported to Peninsula Regional Medical Center by the Maryland State Police Aviation due to injuries sustained in the collision and is in stable condition. The Showell Volunteer Fire Department responded to the scene and extinguished the vehicle fire. The roadway was closed during the collision investigation. The driver was charged with DUI, Negligent Driving and related offenses.

www.wgmd.com

Mother Driving Drunk While Newborn In Back Seat

VIRGINIA BEACH - Virginia Beach Police arrested a woman for driving under the influence while her 3-week-old son was in the backseat.

Police say, last week 28-year-old Heather Maiers was caught speeding near Oceana Blvd. They say she was going 50 miles-per-hour in a 35 miles-per-hour zone. However, officers had a hunch that Maiers wasn't just guilty for speeding.

Virginia Beach Police spokesperson, Adam Bernstein says Maiers was given a breathalyzer test. After failing, he says Maiers still insisted she was fine. "It was a case where she felt like she was okay to drive," Bernstein says.

When officers tried to arrest her, police say she started screaming at them.

Bernstein says, "Extremely belligerent. Cursing at him especially when he began to lecture her about the dangers of drinking and driving while having her baby in the vehicle. Then she just laid into him."

NewsChannel 3 wanted to her Maiers' side of the story but someone at the house said the family was on vacation.

Maiers faces a list of charges including her second DUI charge, speeding, and felony child neglect.
www.wtkr.com

DUI Arrest From Vanilla Extract

(Arlington, TN 7/8/2010) 48-year-old Kelly Moss appears has a $4,000 bond for after being arrested on a DUI charge.

Sam Palmer saw it happen.

"It was jumped up over the curb. She had driven it up on the curb. In fact I went to see if she had hit the telephone pole. She hadn't hit that, but she had both wheels on the curb," says Palmer.

Police say Moss had a strong odor of vanilla on her breath and was unsteady on her feet.

They found a nearly empty bottle of vanilla extract and a partially empty bottle of diet coke in her car as well as a receipt for two 8oz. bottle of extract.

The vanilla extract is 35% alcohol.

Moss was arrested.
Sam Palmer doesn't know her, but as a recovering alcoholic, he knows abusers find ways to get their drug.

"Mouthwash, Geritol, Robitussin," says Palmer.

As a drug addiction counselor, Dr. Carolyn Bryant has seen it too.

"Instead of the drug that may be their drug of choice, that may be they have been arrested for or got in trouble about, they take something that will give them that same effect," says Bryant.

She counsels women to admit their problem and seek help.

"I hope she gets in a treatment program or a 12 step program," says Palmer. "She could have hit a telephone pole, could have wiped somebody else out."

This was Kelly Moss' third DUI arrest. No one answered the door at her Germantown home when we stopped by.

She will be back in court August 19th.

www.wreg.com