Falcons Safety Lawyer Milloy Charged With DUI and Speeding

Posted on September 16, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — Falcons safety Lawyer Milloy was arrested on DUI and speeding charges in suburban Atlanta early Monday, just hours after Atlanta lost to Tampa Bay.

At his Monday news conference, Atlanta coach Mike Smith would not offer details on any potential discipline Milloy could face.

“Any time any of our players are in this type of situation, we are extremely disappointed, myself and our organization,” Smith said. “It’s something that is completely unacceptable.”

Gwinnett County police charged the 34-year-old Milloy with driving under the influence of alcohol and speeding. Milloy, who lives in nearby Buford, was booked into the suburban Atlanta jail at 4:35 a.m. and posted a bond of more than US$1,600 about five hours later.

Though Milloy spoke with Smith before the team meeting on Monday afternoon, Milloy was not present in the locker room when reporters were allowed in from 12:35-1:20 p.m.

He issued a one-sentence statement through lawyer Manubir Arora of Atlanta.

“I apologize to my family, my teammates, (Falcons owner) Mr. (Arthur) Blank, coach Smith, (general manager) Thomas Dimitroff and our great fans for the incident that occurred following Sunday’s game at Tampa Bay,” Milloy said.

Milloy, with 192 starts in his 198 career games, has been considered a team leader since signing a three-year contract worth US$6 million in March 2006. A four-time Pro Bowl selection, he helped New England win its first Super Bowl in February 2002.

Under the league’s substance abuse policy and program, a DUI conviction could result in Milloy getting tested, evaluated and treated for alcoholism. Commissioner Roger Goodell and the Falcons also could impose fines, but Smith gave no details.

“I’ve had a conversation with Lawyer this morning, a very lengthy conversation,” Smith said. “It was something that I’d like to keep private between he and I. What I can tell you is that this matter will be handled internally. The league and the (NFL Players Association) sets certain standards on things you can and cannot do.”

Smith seemed irritated with reporters when asked about the team’s plans for handling Milloy’s predicament.

“When I say internally, I mean it’s going to be handled internally,” Smith said. “We’re going to work through this. We’ve got to let the process run its course. It’s a legal matter.”

Centre Todd McClure, a Falcon since 1999, indicated that Milloy, who led Atlanta with seven solo tackles in the 24-9 loss at Tampa Bay, remains a respected teammate and leader in the locker room.

“Lawyer’s a great guy, and we’re going to support him through this,” McClure said. “He just made a mistake.”

Article from the Canadian Press

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Driving Aggresively in Gwinnett County in GA? Better Think Twice.

Posted on July 31, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

A little extra room wouldn’t kill you. That’s the message of an education and enforcement campaign launched in Gwinnett County this week to reduce collisions between passenger vehicles and commercial trucks by urging them to “leave more space” between them.

As part of the Georgia Department of Public Safety’s “Targeting Aggressive Cars and Trucks” program (TACT), some 35 officers will be stationed this week along the roughly 30-mile stretch of I-85 from Sugarloaf Parkway into Jackson County and up I-985 to Ga. 20. Four signs have been mounted throughout the corridor with illustrations that indicate a safe distance for lane switching and warn to drivers to avoid a ticket.

Crashes between passenger and commercial vehicles account for 15 percent of highway deaths each year, said Gordy Wright, the public safety department’s director of public information. Almost 90 percent of those killed are in the passenger cars, he said. And most of the time, it’s their fault.

Although the campaign’s signage appears to target drivers of passenger cars, officials say both parties are being addressed in an effort that will ticket drivers for aggressive behavior such as changing lanes without signaling, speeding and tailgating, said Maj. Christopher Long with the Georgia Motor Carrier Compliance Division. As part of the campaign, officers will hand out brochures about the program to those drivers they stop. Officers are also dispensing information at the welcome center in Suwanee.

When following a commercial truck, drivers of passenger cars need to leave more space than the requisite one car length for every 10 miles per hour, Long said. He pointed out the trucks’ significant blind spots and the fact that it takes twice as long for a tractor-trailer to stop as it does a passenger car.

The current area under watch saw 140 crashes between passenger and commercial vehicles last year. They resulted in five deaths and 89 injuries, Wright said.

Georgia’s Public Safety Department conducted two previous waves of enforcement — in Bartow and Cobb counties in November 2007 and in Chatham County in February. They were weeklong periods followed by two three-day checks. The follow-up enforcements for Gwinnett are scheduled for August and September.

According to a report prepared by James Bason, associate research scientist with the University of Georgia’s Survey Research Center, studies of the previous corridors before and after the enforcement “wave” took place suggested lower instances of unsafe driving around semi-trailers and increased awareness of the campaign.

Wright, of the Department of Public Safety, said that it’s too early to draw conclusions from the campaign, but already public awareness has increased.

“People are paying attention and realizing that they’ve got to use extra care around the commercial vehicles,” he said. “That’s what the campaign is about is increasing awareness to let drivers know that those trucks can’t stop on a dime.”

The program is funded with a grant from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and enforced by members of the Georgia State Patrol and the Motor Carrier Compliance Division. Washington, Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania have begun similar programs, Long said.

Story by Rachel Pomerance

Atlanta Journal Constitution, http://www.AJC.com

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Highway Safety Crackdown in Early County Georgia

Posted on June 23, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

With the summer holiday driving period approaching, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety in the Peach State has once again begun its 100-days of summer Highway Enforcement of Aggressive Traffic program.

Officers from 20 law enforcement agencies in Georgia came together Friday for a common goal, to promote safe highway traveling during the deadly summer holiday driving period.

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The 100-days of summer H.E.A.T program works in conjunction with Georgia Highway Safety Networks mandatory traffic stops are set-up in different counties to ticket those driving the wrong way and to show drivers there’s only one way to drive safe.
“Put a seatbelt on, keep the speeds slow and give yourself reaction time, and of course don’t drink and drive,” said Tony Bobbitt with Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

Several tickets were issued for unsafe child seats, traveling with too many people in the back seat and some drivers found out if you drive without a license and insurance you don’t get to drive home.

Friday was the first time Early County was the location for the roadblock crackdowns. They will continue to pinpoint certain things throughout the night and the summer holiday season.

“High-speeds following too close aggressive driving like switching in and out of lanes with a lot of traffic, tailgating and all that stuff. During these two weeks focus is on impaired drivers,” said Bobbitt.

There are almost 1,600 fatalities each year on Georgia Highways. Law enforcement believes will help bring down that number and show motorist they are serious about safety.

More roadblocks are being set-up through the morning hours in Early County.

Story by WTVYNews4.com

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Speeding citations cease in Midville

Posted on May 1, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

No one is accusing Midville of being a speed trap these days.

Not one speeding ticket has been written by the town’s police department in the past eight months, according to city records.

Less than three years ago, some 122 residents of the small town, which boasts a lone caution light, signed a petition stating that local police were op- erating a speed trap.

An investigation by the Georgia Department of Public Safety cleared the town after finding that only 22 percent of the police department’s budget came from speeding tickets. Forty percent constitutes a speed trap.

But, now, that number has dwindled to zero.

The last traffic citation was written just before Brian McDuffie resigned as chief in July 2007.

Current chief Byron Walker came on the job in November, but because he is not certified by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) Council, he cannot write tickets.

Burke County Magistrate Court Chief Judge Curt St. Germaine said his office has not held court in Midville since September of last year.

City council voted two weeks ago to place Walker on administrative leave without pay until he earns his POST certification.

In the meantime, the town is being lightly patrolled by parttime officer Robert Baynham.

Baynham is POST certified as an officer but said he has not written a speeding ticket since he joined the Midville Police Department in 2005.

He said he needs a radar certification card from POST to operate radar but does not have one.

However, Azra Keeling, of POST’s records department, said Baynham has been radarcertified since November 2006.

Council member Sam Cummings said he would be sure to look into the issue.

Though there is not a fulltime police presence in Midville, Cummings said Burke County Sheriff’s deputies routinely patrol the city. He added the Wadley Police Department would be on call if needed.

By Anne Marie Kyzer, truecitizen.com

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Gwinnett County Police Officer Caught Speeding Found Not Guilty

Posted on February 9, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

An off-duty Gwinnett County Georgia police officer who was arrested and charged with drunken driving after being stopped for speeding was found not guilty Friday by a local judge.

“We feel that our trooper did his job and took a dangerous driver off of the road,” said Larry Schnall, spokesman for the State Patrol. “That trooper is an instructor in how to make proper and effective DUI traffic stops.”The judge in the case, Recorders Court Judge Patricia Muise, in Gwinnett County Ga., was not available for comment.

But Muise’s judicial assistant, Kim Everett, defended the judge’s actions.

“The evidence was presented in court and she made a decision based on the evidence,” Everett said. The trial was held Jan. 29, and Everett said she watched the proceedings.

The traffic stop occurred about 1 a.m. on Dec. 28 in the Lawrenceville area of I-85 in Georgia, according to the State Patrol.

Schnall said Cpl. Kevin Brandle was driving a GMC Yukon with two other people in the car. Cpl. Charles Chapeau, a Georgia state trooper, pulled the driver over for speeding and noticed that the occupants in the car were trying to hide some items. Chapeau also saw open containers of beer in the car.

The driver, Brandle, smelled of alcohol, had bloodshot eyes and slurred speech, Schnall said.

Chapeau charged Brandle with driving under the influence of alcohol and with having open containers of alcohol in his car, Schnall said, and Brandle’s passengers also were cited for having open containers of alcohol.

Brandle refused to take a breath test or do a field sobriety test and told the trooper that he was a Gwinnett police officer, Schnall said.

The traffic stop was videotaped and a microphone in the patrol car captures the officer cursing at the trooper, Schnall said.

Chapeau, who made the traffic stop, is a supervisor with the State Patrol and is an instructor who teaches other troopers how to detect drunken drivers.

Christine Koehler, Brandle’s defense attorney, said her client was innocent.

“The judge reviewed all the evidence, including the videotape and made her decision,” said Koehler. “Any time the Georgia State Patrol loses a case they get upset. But [Brandle] is a superior officer who has received many awards.”

Brandle has been working for the Gwinnett Police Department for about eight years, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, a department spokeswoman.

Brandle had been working in the Special Operations department, she said, but was given a “desk job” after the arrest.

The incident is being investigated by the internal affairs department, Spellman said.

Atlanta Journal Constitution Article

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Pendergrass Gives Out Most Tickets in NE Georgia

Posted on January 17, 2008 by georgiatrafficlawyer

In the nine years he has patrolled a stretch of U.S. Highway 129 through Pendergrass, police Sgt. Bill Garner has developed a philosophy about giving tickets, getting drunks off the road and busting illegal drivers.

“I don’t care what they’ve done,” Garner said on a recent Friday afternoon on the road. “Being mean to people isn’t going to make my day any easier.”

He’s not sure how many tickets he’s given in his tenure with the Pendergrass Police Department, but there’s a good chance that the tall officer with the clean-shaven head has given more than his fair share.

Pendergrass, after all, holds the title for collecting the most revenue from traffic fines and seized assets per resident in the Northeast Georgia region for the second year in a row. In 2006, the department took in about $558,020 in fines – enough to pay the police department’s $312,636 budget in 2006 and then some.

That $558,020 represents about $1,136 in fine revenue for each of the town’s 491 residents. That’s nearly five-times the revenue per resident collected by the town with the next highest police-revenue-per-resident numbers.

The Arcade Police Department, which the Georgia Bureau of Investigation regularly reviews and clears of speed-trap allegations, only took in $264 for each of the town’s 1,900 residents.

The Madison County Sheriff’s Office, which collected about $118 per county resident in 2006, came in third in a ranking compiled by the Athens Banner-Herald from data collected by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

In the nine years he has patrolled a stretch of U.S. Highway 129 through Pendergrass, police Sgt. Bill Garner has developed a philosophy about giving tickets, getting drunks off the road and busting illegal drivers.

“I don’t care what they’ve done,” Garner said on a recent Friday afternoon on the road. “Being mean to people isn’t going to make my day any easier.”

Profound words indeed from the officer, to read the remainder of the article visit OnlineAthens.com, article by Merritt Melancon.

 

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