In March 2015, the Santa Barbara Police Department made 49 DUI arrests. As it does every month, the SBPD distributed to the media its DUI "Round-Up" for the month of March that included narratives of some of the arrests. The department also made special note to thank citizens who called 9-1-1 after witnessing possible DUI drivers.
Here are a selection of the recent arrests:
3/1/15 at 2:09 a.m.: Guadalupe Bernabe-Santana (age 35) was involved in a felony hit-and-run collision with several parked cars on the 1800 block of De La Vina Street. Two witnesses provided Officer Melchor with a description of Santana’s vehicle. Santana’s vehicle, which had major damage and air bags deployed, was located several blocks away with Santana in the driver seat and his passenger outside of the car. Santana displayed signs of intoxication, including slurred speech and a strong odor of alcohol. Santana stated he was coming from La Rumba Bar and had consumed “only two Corona beers” prior to driving. Officer Melchor conducted a DUI investigation and determined that Santana was too intoxicated to safely operate a motor vehicle. He was placed under arrest for DUI and chose to submit to a breath test which registered his BAC at .19 and .19. Paramedics were called to the scene to treat the passenger who had facial injuries from the collision. Santana was booked at County Jail for DUI causing injury, hit-and-run causing injury, unlicensed driver, and no proof of insurance with a bail amount of $100,000.00.