Latinos account for nearly half of all DWI arrests in Austin in 2002

By the time police stopped him, the driver of the Ford Escort had sped out of an East Austin alley and slammed into a curb. Oscar Medina, 25, could barely walk a straight line or count to 10 when he got out of the car. Reeking of alcohol, Medina told an officer he had drunk seven beers that night and had had nothing to eat since breakfast. A breath test indicated his blood alcohol level was .163 percent, twice the legal limit. Medina, who was arrested June 7 and jailed on a charge of drunken driving, contributes to an unfortunate Austin statistic: Of 3,007 drunken driving arrests in 2002, 43 percent involved Hispanic men, even though they make up only about 11 percent of Austin's driving population. Including women, Hispanics made up 47 percent of the DWI arrests but only 21 percent of Austin drivers. The reasons why aren't clear. Defense lawyers blame racial profiling by police. Austin police say bars should be more accountable for the drinks they serve. Sociologists cite studies showing that Latinos tend to drink less often but in large amounts when they do. Some advocates for Austin's Latino immigrants say many migrants arrive unfamiliar with U.S. laws on drinking and driving. "The most important thing is that this is a complex behavior that probably has many explanations that are individual as well as environmental or social, and because of that, it is a difficult problem to deal with," said Raul Caetano, a professor and assistant dean at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas. What all agree on is that more needs to be done to discourage a deadly trend: One-third of last year's 71 traffic fatalities in Austin involved Latino deaths. Alcohol was a factor in 74 percent of the 23 Latino deaths in those wrecks. By comparison, alcohol was a factor in 60 percent of the 42 fatal wrecks involving whites. Only two blacks died in wrecks last year. The ethnicity of four others who died wasn't indicated, and the information did not differentiate between drivers, pedestrians or passengers. These statistics and the nation's changing ethnic landscape have prompted Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for the first time in its 23-year history, to start a campaign this spring in Austin focusing on Latino drivers. The effort, part of a national campaign, is called Pasa las Llaves, which means "Pass the Keys" in Spanish. Statistics show that drunken driving and crashes are high among Latinos across the nation, said Betty Swinners, a diversity coordinator for MADD's national office. Statewide, 42 percent of the people arrested in 2002 for driving while intoxicated were Latino, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. In Austin, 46 percent of the people arrested for drunken driving from 1999 to 2002 were Latino, according to the Austin Police Department. Enforcement target? Some people find the Austin statistics hard to believe. "In a general sense, Latinos are no more likely to be driving while intoxicated than any other race or ethnicity. And the fact that more have been arrested for DWI might suggest there's some bias in enforcement," said Joe Berra, a San Antonio-based staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national Latino civil rights organization. Police are required by state law to record the race of all drivers during traffic stops, although the law does not tell officers how to determine ethnicity. Austin officers say they do not profile Latino drivers. "When I'm behind someone who's swerving all over the road, I don't know if they're black, white or Hispanic," senior officer Robert Smith said. Smith has worked in the drunken driving patrol for 3 1/2 years. He spends his nights and early mornings watching for signs of intoxicated motorists, including speeding and driving without headlights. "One thing I have noticed is that the Hispanics I arrest for DWI, 90 percent of the time, are more drunk than the white and black people I arrest," Smith said, referring to blood-alcohol level. Smith's supervisor, Cmdr. Juan Gonzalez, is responsible for the eight patrol officers and one sergeant assigned to the drunken driving patrol. "We don't target East Austin," Gonzalez said, "We do go where we're able to arrest the most DWIs — and the downtown area is it." But drinking isn't limited to downtown, Gonzalez said, and Austin officers will direct their efforts wherever they are likely to find inebriated motorists. "Our deal is to reduce DWIs and reduce fatalities. I think that if you reduce one, you will reduce the other. If we make (people) scared to drive drunk, if there's an extra penalty, if they know that . . . hopefully, that will work." Some Austin criminal defense lawyers disagree with police and say their clients are being targeted because of their ethnicity. "A lot of my clients say they are leaving a bar and not doing anything wrong, and a cop pulls them over," lawyer Leonard Martinez said. The only thing his clients are doing wrong, Martinez said, is "driving while Mexican." Traffic stop profiles Racial profiling data released by the Austin Police Department indicates that about 31 percent of all traffic stops in 2002 involved Latino drivers. By comparison, Latinos — men and women — represent 21 percent of all Austin drivers, according to census data about Austin households with at least one car. Latino men and women represented 47 percent of Austin's drunken driving arrests in 2002 Whites, who make up about 65 percent of Austin drivers, made up 53 percent of all 2002 traffic stops. Antonio Wehnes, another Austin lawyer, said Latino drivers get stopped because they drive older model cars. He also said many of his clients are not as familiar with drinking and driving laws as drivers from other ethnic groups. "These guys work in 60-hour weeks in the hot sun all day, and when they get off work, they open up a six-pack and blow off steam," Wehnes said. Jennifer Long, the executive director for Casa Marianella, which helps immigrants from Mexico and Central America get settled, agreed with Wehnes about migrants' unfamiliarity with the law. "They have expressed surprise about the stricter laws in the U.S.," Long said. One of the problems is that people without immigration documents cannot get a driver's license, said Angeles Gomez, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in Austin. "They do not know the rules," Gomez said, "and this causes a vicious cycle." Dangerous choices Austin's statistics are not unique. In California, 48 percent of drunken driving arrests in 2001 were of Latino men, according to that state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Figures from 2002 were not available. Latinos make up roughly 21 percent of the California driving population. "The profile of a drunk driver in California is a young Hispanic male, and I bet you have a similar situation all over the Southwest," UT's Caetano said. Oscar Medina, who was arrested June 7 on Medina Street in East Austin, said he had been drinking at home after a day at work. He failed the sobriety tests, which were videotaped, that officer Smith gave him on the scene. Handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car on the way to jail, Medina, a carpet layer, had an explanation. "I just got divorced," he said. "We were married 10 years. Sometimes you can't find a way out." On June 13, Medina was convicted on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated. It was the second time for the young father of two children. Medina has had his driver's license suspended for a year, but a judge agreed that if Medina completes 30 hours of an Alcoholics Anonymous program while in jail, he can have his 180-day jail sentence cut in half. However, if Medina is found guilty a third time of driving while intoxicated, it's an automatic felony. UT's Caetano, who previously was a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, where he worked at a national alcohol research center, is a member of the national board of MADD. He said there are several reasons why drunken driving arrest rates are high among Latino drivers. "The first reason has to do with the very emotional and controversial issue of police profiling. . . . Data from isolated jurisdictions has indeed shown there seems to be a suggestion that police profile drivers," he said. Cultural perceptions The other possible explanation is that Latinos tend to consume more alcohol at each drinking occasion than other ethnic groups, Caetano said. "The traditional pattern of drinking in Mexico is one of infrequent drinking of high amounts," he said, citing a national survey he conducted with other researchers. However, Caetano said that despite what the public perception may be, "My research showed that a Latino born in the United States is three times more likely to be arrested (for driving while intoxicated) than a Latino who is an immigrant." Figures weren't available for how many of the Latinos arrested for drunken driving in Austin in 2002 were immigrants. Caetano said that he thinks MADD's Pasa las Llaves campaign is effective because it focuses on the family. A lot of festivities with drinking happen within the family, he said. "We want to deliver the message that you can celebrate your culture, but protect your family if you're drinking or planning to drink," said Swinners of the national MADD office. The organization started the Pasa las Llaves campaign two years ago with a grant from Mitsubishi Motors America Inc. Austin's campaign, which was mentioned on the Spanish-language television station Univision, started in March. So far, MADD staff members have visited flea markets, community safety fairs and a church as part of the Austin campaign. An advisory board for the campaign meets monthly with different representatives from the community, including police, Capital Metro, the Texas Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The group hasn't decided on a specific approach to the problem in Austin. "We want a program that would encompass the victims of drunk drivers, the offenders and the club owners or bartenders, to address the issue of overserving," said Rena Dietrich, director of the Heart of Texas chapter of MADD in Austin. Late-night bus rides To help keep drunken drivers off the road, Capital Metro beginning Aug. 18 will offer late-night routes during the week and on Saturdays, connecting downtown to East, Southeast and North Austin. The routes will run along several main streets, including Riverside Drive, Oltorf Street, South Congress Avenue, Rosewood Avenue, Airport Boulevard, Springdale Road, Seventh Street, Lamar Boulevard, Rundberg Lane and Lavaca Street, from midnight to 3 a.m. Police said they are using several approaches. They hold community safety fairs throughout Austin to discuss the law. The fairs also allow people to simulate driving while drunk by getting in a golf cart and putting on goggles that are distorted to mimic intoxication. Police also have made safety presentations at flea markets and churches, and run public safety announcements on Spanish-language radio stations. But some, including Medina, learn the hard way. On the night he was arrested he said: "You know what? Next time, I'm going to think twice about doing that again."

Including women, Hispanics made up 47 percent of the DWI arrests but only 21 percent of Austin drivers. The reasons why aren't clear. Defense lawyers blame racial profiling by police. Austin police say bars should be more accountable for the drinks they serve. Sociologists cite studies showing that Latinos tend to drink less often but in large amounts when they do. Some advocates for Austin's Latino immigrants say many migrants arrive unfamiliar with U.S. laws on drinking and driving. "The most important thing is that this is a complex behavior that probably has many explanations that are individual as well as environmental or social, and because of that, it is a difficult problem to deal with," said Raul Caetano, a professor and assistant dean at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas.

What all agree on is that more needs to be done to discourage a deadly trend: One-third of last year's 71 traffic fatalities in Austin involved Latino deaths. Alcohol was a factor in 74 percent of the 23 Latino deaths in those wrecks. By comparison, alcohol was a factor in 60 percent of the 42 fatal wrecks involving whites. Only two blacks died in wrecks last year. The ethnicity of four others who died wasn't indicated, and the information did not differentiate between drivers, pedestrians or passengers. These statistics and the nation's changing ethnic landscape have prompted Mothers Against Drunk Driving, for the first time in its 23-year history, to start a campaign this spring in Austin focusing on Latino drivers.

The effort, part of a national campaign, is called Pasa las Llaves, which means "Pass the Keys" in Spanish. Statistics show that drunken driving and crashes are high among Latinos across the nation, said Betty Swinners, a diversity coordinator for MADD's national office. Statewide, 42 percent of the people arrested in 2002 for driving while intoxicated were Latino, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. In Austin, 46 percent of the people arrested for drunken driving from 1999 to 2002 were Latino, according to the Austin Police Department. Enforcement target? Some people find the Austin statistics hard to believe. "In a general sense, Latinos are no more likely to be driving while intoxicated than any other race or ethnicity. And the fact that more have been arrested for DWI might suggest there's some bias in enforcement," said Joe Berra, a San Antonio-based staff attorney for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national Latino civil rights organization.

Police are required by state law to record the race of all drivers during traffic stops, although the law does not tell officers how to determine ethnicity. Austin officers say they do not profile Latino drivers. "When I'm behind someone who's swerving all over the road, I don't know if they're black, white or Hispanic," senior officer Robert Smith said. Smith has worked in the drunken driving patrol for 3 1/2 years. He spends his nights and early mornings watching for signs of intoxicated motorists, including speeding and driving without headlights. "One thing I have noticed is that the Hispanics I arrest for DWI, 90 percent of the time, are more drunk than the white and black people I arrest," Smith said, referring to blood-alcohol level. Smith's supervisor, Cmdr. Juan Gonzalez, is responsible for the eight patrol officers and one sergeant assigned to the drunken driving patrol. "We don't target East Austin," Gonzalez said, "We do go where we're able to arrest the most DWIs — and the downtown area is it."

But drinking isn't limited to downtown, Gonzalez said, and Austin officers will direct their efforts wherever they are likely to find inebriated motorists. "Our deal is to reduce DWIs and reduce fatalities. I think that if you reduce one, you will reduce the other. If we make (people) scared to drive drunk, if there's an extra penalty, if they know that . . . hopefully, that will work." Some Austin criminal defense lawyers disagree with police and say their clients are being targeted because of their ethnicity. "A lot of my clients say they are leaving a bar and not doing anything wrong, and a cop pulls them over," lawyer Leonard Martinez said. The only thing his clients are doing wrong, Martinez said, is "driving while Mexican." Traffic stop profiles Racial profiling data released by the Austin Police Department indicates that about 31 percent of all traffic stops in 2002 involved Latino drivers. By comparison, Latinos — men and women — represent 21 percent of all Austin drivers, according to census data about Austin households with at least one car. Latino men and women represented 47 percent of Austin's drunken driving arrests in 2002 Whites, who make up about 65 percent of Austin drivers, made up 53 percent of all 2002 traffic stops.

Antonio Wehnes, another Austin lawyer, said Latino drivers get stopped because they drive older model cars. He also said many of his clients are not as familiar with drinking and driving laws as drivers from other ethnic groups. "These guys work in 60-hour weeks in the hot sun all day, and when they get off work, they open up a six-pack and blow off steam," Wehnes said. Jennifer Long, the executive director for Casa Marianella, which helps immigrants from Mexico and Central America get settled, agreed with Wehnes about migrants' unfamiliarity with the law. "They have expressed surprise about the stricter laws in the U.S.," Long said. One of the problems is that people without immigration documents cannot get a driver's license, said Angeles Gomez, a spokeswoman for the Mexican Consulate in Austin. "They do not know the rules," Gomez said, "and this causes a vicious cycle." Dangerous choices Austin's statistics are not unique. In California, 48 percent of drunken driving arrests in 2001 were of Latino men, according to that state's Department of Motor Vehicles. Figures from 2002 were not available. Latinos make up roughly 21 percent of the California driving population. "The profile of a drunk driver in California is a young Hispanic male, and I bet you have a similar situation all over the Southwest," UT's Caetano said. Oscar Medina, who was arrested June 7 on Medina Street in East Austin, said he had been drinking at home after a day at work. He failed the sobriety tests, which were videotaped, that officer Smith gave him on the scene.

Handcuffed in the back seat of a patrol car on the way to jail, Medina, a carpet layer, had an explanation. "I just got divorced," he said. "We were married 10 years. Sometimes you can't find a way out." On June 13, Medina was convicted on misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated. It was the second time for the young father of two children. Medina has had his driver's license suspended for a year, but a judge agreed that if Medina completes 30 hours of an Alcoholics Anonymous program while in jail, he can have his 180-day jail sentence cut in half. However, if Medina is found guilty a third time of driving while intoxicated, it's an automatic felony. UT's Caetano, who previously was a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California at Berkeley, where he worked at a national alcohol research center, is a member of the national board of MADD. He said there are several reasons why drunken driving arrest rates are high among Latino drivers. "The first reason has to do with the very emotional and controversial issue of police profiling. . . . Data from isolated jurisdictions has indeed shown there seems to be a suggestion that police profile drivers," he said. Cultural perceptions The other possible explanation is that Latinos tend to consume more alcohol at each drinking occasion than other ethnic groups, Caetano said. "The traditional pattern of drinking in Mexico is one of infrequent drinking of high amounts," he said, citing a national survey he conducted with other researchers.

However, Caetano said that despite what the public perception may be, "My research showed that a Latino born in the United States is three times more likely to be arrested (for driving while intoxicated) than a Latino who is an immigrant." Figures weren't available for how many of the Latinos arrested for drunken driving in Austin in 2002 were immigrants. Caetano said that he thinks MADD's Pasa las Llaves campaign is effective because it focuses on the family. A lot of festivities with drinking happen within the family, he said. "We want to deliver the message that you can celebrate your culture, but protect your family if you're drinking or planning to drink," said Swinners of the national MADD office. The organization started the Pasa las Llaves campaign two years ago with a grant from Mitsubishi Motors America Inc. Austin's campaign, which was mentioned on the Spanish-language television station Univision, started in March. So far, MADD staff members have visited flea markets, community safety fairs and a church as part of the Austin campaign. An advisory board for the campaign meets monthly with different representatives from the community, including police, Capital Metro, the Texas Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The group hasn't decided on a specific approach to the problem in Austin. "We want a program that would encompass the victims of drunk drivers, the offenders and the club owners or bartenders, to address the issue of overserving," said Rena Dietrich, director of the Heart of Texas chapter of MADD in Austin. Late-night bus rides To help keep drunken drivers off the road, Capital Metro beginning Aug. 18 will offer late-night routes during the week and on Saturdays, connecting downtown to East, Southeast and North Austin. The routes will run along several main streets, including Riverside Drive, Oltorf Street, South Congress Avenue, Rosewood Avenue, Airport Boulevard, Springdale Road, Seventh Street, Lamar Boulevard, Rundberg Lane and Lavaca Street, from midnight to 3 a.m. Police said they are using several approaches. They hold community safety fairs throughout Austin to discuss the law. The fairs also allow people to simulate driving while drunk by getting in a golf cart and putting on goggles that are distorted to mimic intoxication. Police also have made safety presentations at flea markets and churches, and run public safety announcements on Spanish-language radio stations. But some, including Medina, learn the hard way. On the night he was arrested he said: "You know what? Next time, I'm going to think twice about doing that again."

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