DUI check leads to number of arrests

Officers arrested nine drunk drivers and impounded 41 cars Saturday at the DUI checkpoint near campus.

Nine drivers under the influence were arrested at the checkpoint along Figueroa Street between Jefferson Boulevard and 32nd Street on Saturday night.

Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol and USC Department of Public Safety officers screened 1,206 cars between 7 p.m. and 1 a.m., officers said.

Of those cars, 41 were impounded for drivers driving without a license, and one driver was arrested for possession of a knife, along with the nine arrested for driving under the influence.

No USC students were involved in any of the arrests or impoundings.

DPS Capt. David Carlisle expressed concern about the number of people driving without a license who are possibly driving without insurance as well.

Carlisle also said the checkpoint was an important way of keeping the streets safe.

“Those people were removed from the roadway before they injured someone,” Carlisle said.

Roland Gallardo, an LAPD officer who worked at the DUI checkpoint, said he believed this checkpoint was a critical safeguard in the university area.

“Of those drivers, one out of the nine or maybe more could be a potential subject that could have run over one of our students on the street or on a bike,” Gallardo said. “So I think because we got that many off the street, we were successful.”