DUI Arrests, Convictions, and Laws

Anthony Brian Tecca appeared before Judge Russell Fagg and pleaded not guilty to felony charges of DUI and four counts of criminal endangerment.

The judge allowed Tecca to remain free pending trial on a posted $10,000 bond. He also ordered Tecca to submit to electronic alcohol monitoring.

Tecca was arrested Jan. 7 shortly after 10 p.m. by officers checking on a report of a reckless driver in the area of Belvedere Drive. A motorist called police to report that the driver of a minivan had nearly struck parked cars and almost hit his vehicle head-on.

Officers found the minivan parked on Montclair Drive. Three children, ages 10, 9 and 7, were in the minivan.

Officers said Tecca showed signs of intoxication, performed poorly on a sobriety test and refused to provide a breath sample. A blood sample was taken after a judge issued a search warrant.

That means if he’s convicted, Michael Hughes, 43, of the 2000 block of South Philo Road, faces a mandatory prison term of four to 15 years and it could be even longer because of his record.

Assistant State’s Attorney Chris Kanis said that about 3 a.m. Monday, Hughes went in the Circle K, 1809 N. Cunningham Ave., and asked the clerk to open the beer cooler. The clerk said he appeared intoxicated. When she declined to open the cooler, Hughes allegedly took a bottle of vodka, put it in his pants and left.

The clerk followed him out and made contact with a state trooper who was nearby. Hughes, who was in the driver’s seat of a car, admitted to the trooper he had driven to the store from his daughter’s house in Champaign.

Kanis said the trooper’s report said the trooper found the vodka under the seat. Hughes failed field sobriety tests and on a portable breath test, registered a blood-alcohol content of 0.25 percent, more than three times the limit for a motorist to be presumed intoxicated.

Kanis said even though Hughes is charged with a Class 1 felony DUI, he’s eligible for Class X sentencing of six to 30 years if convicted because of prior convictions. He was also charged with driving under revocation and retail theft.

Hughes also has pending in Champaign County charges of driving under the revocation and theft, which were lodged against him in 2011.

Court records show Hughes had DUI convictions in 1996, 2001, 2003 and 2006, Kanis said. He went to prison for the last three DUI convictions.

Randy Michaels was arrested in October in Middletown. Court officials said a prosecutor withdrew the driving under the influence charge Friday, and Michaels pleaded guilty to driving into a closed street. He was fined $30 and court costs.

His attorney, Steve Adams, says Michaels was not under the influence of alcohol and was innocent.

Police had reported that an officer spotted Michaels’ vehicle in a construction area and that he smelled of alcohol.

John Medeiros, now 59, is charged in connection with the death of 39-year-old Dwayne Bradley.

In October 2010, Medeiros was driving a 2000 Cadillac Deville and collided with a motorcycle as he was making a left turn onto Northeast 77th Street. Bradley, the driver of the motorcycle, was taken to Shands at the University of Florida in Gainesville that night, where he was pronounced deceased.

According to police reports, Medeiros was visibly intoxicated at the scene. His driver’s license had been revoked for a previous DUI manslaughter charge. The 2010 charge was his second in two years.

An unshaven Medeiros, wearing a faded jail uniform, appeared in court Wednesday for a hearing. His defense attorney, Melanie Slaughter, planned to review with him a redacted recorded jail interview he had with authorities, which will be introduced in court next week.

Medeiros faces up to 30 years in prison. He has turned down plea deals from the State Attorney’s Office for 15-year and 20-year sentences.

Richard Bolling, 42, is charged with aggravated DUI, reckless homicide and leaving the scene of a fatal accident in the May 2009 crash that killed Trenton Booker. Trenton was riding his bike late at night with a friend Michael when Bolling allegedly struck him at 81st Street and Ashland Avenue and then fled the scene.

Prosecutors alleged in opening statements that Bolling, who was off-duty at the time, wasn’t given a field sobriety test until nearly two hours after he was arrested driving the wrong way down a street shortly after the crash. Officers at the scene said he passed the exam.

According to court filings by prosecutors, an undisclosed superior officer was captured on a video recording at the crash scene telling Bolling he would “try to help you out as much as possible.”

It was four and a half hours after the crash, and only under pressure from an Internal Affairs sergeant, when Bolling submitted to a Breathalyzer and registered 0.079 percent, just under the legal limit of 0.08 percent, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors are expected to call an expert witness who will estimate that Bolling’s blood-alcohol content exceeded the legal limit at the time of the crash, according to court filings.

The victim told police he was driving his 1993 Cadillac Fleetwood east on Manassas Drive, Manassas Park, about to turn on northbound Cabbel Drive at 4:44 p.m. when a 1997 Nissan Altima hit his car’s front and rear passenger side, Manassas Park police spokeswoman Karen Barton said.

The driver of the Nissan—later identified as Cristobal Gutierrez—reportedly turned onto nearby Polk Drive, where the victim blocked Gutierrez’ car, authorities said.

Gutierrez got out and ran. The victim called 911 while chasing him.

Police found Gutierrez, 49, of Manassas Drive, at the intersection of Old Centreville Road and Polk Drive, Manassas Park, and charged him with DUI – 3rd offense, driving after being declared an habitual offender, hit and run attended/damage over $1,000, Barton said.

He was held without bond, and has a court date of Feb. 23.

Brandy Allen was behind bars Monday morning, waiting to face a judge.

Her family disputed the allegations.

Allen insists she drank a small amount of alcohol the night she crashed, killing her daughter, but investigators say it was enough to put here over the legal limit.

A makeshift memorial stands in the spot that 10-year-old Brianna Johnson died, and her five-year-old sister, Genia, critically injured.

Police said she was driving, got distracted and slammed her car into the back of a parked semi on the morning after Christmas 2011.

Tests showed her blood alcohol level was .17, twice the legal limit, although Allen’s friends dispute that.

Jessica Lynn Lanier of Goose Creek was originally charged with DUI after S.C. Highway Patrol troopers said she struck the firefighters as they were working at the site of a car crash on Oct. 19.

Highway Patrol Cpl. Bob Beres said she was arrested on the upgraded charge Thursday based on one of the fire fighters’ injuries.

She was released on her own recognizance from the Berkeley County jail Friday morning, according to court records. Her attorney could not be reached.

Goose Creek fire Capt. Michael Althoff, 45, and firefighter Christopher Harrison, 31, were working an accident on U.S. Highway 176 near the Walmart store shortly after midnight when they were struck by a car heading west, Beres said.

Both men suffered leg injuries, according to a Goose Creek police report.