DWI Crackdown: Tough Enough?
After his first DWI crash, Brian D. Davis spent one day in jail and was fined $750.
His second DWI crash could result in a far harsher punishment.
Lawmakers have toughened the state's DWI law in recent years, targeting "the baddest of the bad" offenders.
And Davis appears to fit that description, an anti-DWI advocate said.
The Rogers Avenue man was convicted of DWI five years ago -- stemming from a personal injury crash.
And Davis, a 25-year-old parolee, was driving with a revoked driver's license when police charged him with driving drunk on July 5 and causing a crash that killed his friend, a passenger in his vehicle.
Davis is just one of dramatically increased number of accused drunken drivers to be prosecuted this year by the Erie County District Attorney's Office for killing or injuring others.
"People who have gone through the system before know how serious it is," said John F. Sullivan, project coordinator for Erie County's STOP-DWI program. "There's no way they can walk into the courtroom and say, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do this.'
"They've already been through the wringer," Sullivan added. "And despite all of that, they disregarded the risks and continued to do it.
"That's getting to the crux of the problem," Sullivan said of the toughened laws targeting chronic offenders.
Will it be enough?
-- Patrick Lakamp
