Harris County tops DWI fatalities for large U.S. counties DWI deaths called 'pandemic' in Houston

Cheryl Anne Guberman, en la foto con su esposo Steve Guberman, murió el 28 de mayo después de que su camioneta fuera impactada por una conductora en estado de ebriedad. Cheryl Anne Guberman, en la foto con su esposo Steve Guberman, murió el 28 de mayo después de que su camioneta fuera impactada por una conductora en estado de ebriedad. Photo: Cortesía De La Familia Photo: Cortesía De La Familia Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Harris County tops DWI fatalities for large U.S. counties 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Harris County has the highest rate of alcohol-related traffic deaths among the nation’s most populous counties, researchers say, and a series of horrific crashes blamed on drunken drivers in recent days seems to back the claim.

Experts agree the county’s high DWI fatality rate is partly a byproduct of limited public transportation for the region’s 3.9 million residents and an urban sprawl leading them to drive many miles. Stepped-up enforcement by more officers patrolling the roadways at peak times for drunken driving offenses, meanwhile, keeps the county jail full of DWI suspects. Adding to the deadly mix is a stubborn reluctance to rely on designated drivers, or cabs and other services that keep the intoxicated from driving.

“We don’t make our plans before we drink, we try to figure out how we’re going to deal with it after we start drinking — that’s our biggest problem,” said officer Paul Lassalle, with the Houston Police Department’s DWI task force.

District Attorney Pat Lykos, citing around 10,000 driving while intoxicated cases filed each year, has called the county’s DWI problem a “pandemic plague.”

The most recent victims of crashes that authorities have blamed on intoxicated drivers include: a housewife from The Woodlands whose pickup was forced off a Hardy Toll Road overpass, a Pakistani immigrant killed while helping a stranded motorist on the Southwest Freeway, a volunteer firefighter from Cy-Fair left legless after being hit in an auto parts store parking lot, and a veteran Houston police officer critically injured while directing traffic around a crash on the Southwest Freeway.

Lykos hopes to lower DWI rates by offering first-time offenders a pretrial probation term that avoids a conviction, in hopes of getting more into treatment. In recent years, most of those charged with drunken driving in Harris County have pleaded guilty, served jail time and paid a fine, rather than be placed on supervised probation where alcohol education and treatment assessment is mandatory. Probation for DWI fell from 4,700 cases in 2000 to 2,150 in 2007, according to the district attorney’s office.

Not really that bad?

Lykos announced the new DWI policy at a recent meeting of the Houston/Harris County Office of Drug Policy, which released a report noting the county has been designated the worst in the nation for alcohol-related fatalities per capita. And about 60 percent of the county’s traffic fatalities are alcohol-related, twice the national average, the report states.

Hope Rangel, head of Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Houston-area chapter, said those who drink any amount of alcohol should not drive.

“It’s about choice. We don’t have enough folks who are really being cognizant about what their responsibility as a driver is when they get behind the wheel of a car,” Rangel said.

But some question that worst county designation, arguing the statistics are manipulated to make a serious problem appear worse.

“I’m not saying there are no intoxicated drivers; clearly there are. But I don’t think it’s as bad as statistics make it appear,” said attorney JoAnne Musick, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association. “As far as I’ve been able to tell, the statistics don’t differentiate between those that are DWIs and those that are not.”

Statistics can differ

Finding the exact number of DWI fatalities in Harris County can be confusing.

The city-county report, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and other sources, lists 174 fatalities in 2006 involving drivers who were legally drunk. In contrast, The Texas Department of Transportation lists a significantly lower toll of 145 deaths in 2006 in crashes in which a driver had any measurable amount of alcohol.

Lassalle, with HPD’s DWI task force, provided figures showing the NHTSA ranked Harris County first in per-capita alcohol-related deaths among 10 of the nation’s most populous counties in 2006 based on 232 alcohol-related traffic deaths and 203 traffic deaths in which a driver was legally drunk. Second was Dallas County, followed by Phoenix’s Maricopa County.

“You have a huge population covering a huge territory and they’re doing it all in their own vehicles,” Lassalle said.

Houston’s DWI task force receives about $480,000 a year in grants to pay overtime for officers to catch and process drunken drivers, said task force member Don Egdorf, also HPD’s liaison with the district attorney’s vehicular crimes unit. “I don’t know if there are more drunks on the streets, but there are more officers looking for the drunks so there are more of them getting picked up,” he said.

Troy McKinney, a Houston attorney who specializes in defending DWI cases, said alcohol-related deaths are being “massively overstated” and notes large numbers of DWI cases are eventually dismissed by the courts.

“The realty today is, if you’re drinking and driving and are stopped by police, you’re going to jail whether you’re intoxicated or not. That’s the default,” McKinney said. “The attitude making its way to the government is: People shouldn’t be drinking and driving at all, but it’s not against the law.”

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Recent fatalities

Victim: Cheryl Anne Guberman, 44

The incident: Guberman was on her way to the airport to pick up a son when authorities say Pamela Pugh, 51, ran her off the Hardy Toll Road. Prosecutors say Pugh, who has been charged with intoxication manslaughter, was driving 100 mph when she hit Guberman’s pickup. Pugh remains free on $30,000 bond.

Victim: Fahad Mughal, 28

The incident: Mughal stopped to help a stalled motorist on the shoulder of the Southwest Freeway. Victor Jerome Tugwell, 32, who was out of jail on bond for a DWI charge, crashed his vehicle into the stalled cars, killing Mughal. Tugwell is in jail charged with intoxication manslaughter.

Other cases

Victim: Lloyd Morrison II, 51

The incident: HPD officer Morrison was investigating a crash on the Gulf Freeway on Memorial Day weekend when two drunken drivers ran into him, authorities say. A car driven by Richard Anthony Sandoval, 22, pinned the officer against a firetruck, breaking both legs and injuring his shoulder. Sandoval has been charged with intoxication assault and is free on $10,000 bond.

Victim: Thomas Shuster, 26

The incident: Shuster, a Cy-Fair volunteer firefighter, was working his regular job for an auto parts store when authorities say an intoxicated man driving a stolen car rammed his delivery truck. Shuster lost both legs. Intoxication assault charges have been filed against Celio Velasquez, 23.

james.pinkerton@chron.com