Cops Promise To Be Scourge of July 4 Weekend Drunk Drivers

By Joe Eskenazi Wed., Jun. 30 2010 at 12:01 AM

Categories: Law & Order

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V for sobriety. Wait a minute...

With aggressive language bordering on Winston Churchill's grim 1940 exhortation that his countrymen "defend our island whatever the cost may be," local law enforcement officials promised a "saturation" to root out every last drunken sod who sees fit to slip behind the wheel during Independence Day weekend.

Every available California Highway Patrol officer will be on the freeways and on the lookout for reckless driving, promises the steely press release. They shall pull over the drunks on the beaches, landing grounds, in fields, in streets, and on the hills -- and they shall never, ever surrender!

Expect a local "crackdown" and "saturation" as well as DUI checkpoints commencing in "the first minute of Friday, July 2" and curtailing only at midnight on July 5. We told you the language was intense.

Also here's a message from Sergeant Neil Swendsen of the San Francisco Police Department's traffic company, who will play the role of supreme allied commander for this weekend of sobriety:

"We talk a lot about drunk driving. The other side of that is riding with a drunken driver. Don't believe anyone who's been drinking when they tell you they are fine to drive. Get out, call a cab, hop on a bus, trolley, or cable car or arrange a ride with a stone cold sober person."

Solid advice -- even if it does sound like Swendsen was about to break into a rousing chorus of "Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover."

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