500 stopped at checkpoint, five arrested

Motorists entering Laguna on North Coast Highway from Newport

Beach were greeted by a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint at

McKnight Drive. Ten Laguna officers conducted the checkpoint with

assistance from three officers from Newport Beach, said Sgt. Doris

Higgins who coordinated the program. Several volunteers from MADD and

Citizens in Patrol lent support to the officers.

From 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. last Friday, 1,275 vehicles passed through

the checkpoint. More than 500 of those vehicles were stopped and

greeted by officers with information about driving under the

influence of alcohol, checked for sobriety and for a current driver’s

license. Five people were arrested that night for driving under the

influence.

The department will perform other checkpoints in the near future

at various locations in the city, said Higgins.

-- Mary A. Castillo