Cape DUI Checkpoints

Lookout folks! With the holidays coming up the Cape cops will be conducting their infamous DUI checkpoints.

I here their new slogan for the campaign is...

"Sober Driving. Under the Limit, Under Arrest!"

These checkpoints happen all over the country. My best advice - keep your drunk ass home that night and save yourself some grief.

Yes... blowing triple zeros, being cited for DUI and having your car towed and after being wrongly told that you failed a piss test happens at check points all over this country. /sarcasm

Keeping your drunk ass home isn't good enough you moron, this is Cape Coral we're talking about. Hence the crack that in Cape Coral "Sober Driving. Under the Limit, Under Arrest!". It isn't just a slogan, it's what you can expect from Cape Coral's finest.


Cape Coral police review DUI checkpoint procedures
After state dismissed high-profile DUI case
DENES HUSTY III • dhusty@news-press.com • November 3, 2009

1:10 A.M. — Cape Coral police are reviewing procedures used at checkpoints after James Tallo’s DUI case was dismissed by prosecutors last week.

State lab test results last week showed that Tallo, 72, of Cape Coral, had no drugs in his system when he was charged with DUI at a Sept. 4 checkpoint. An onsite test given by officers indicated he had taken a tranquilizer. A breath test he took that night showed he had no alcohol in his system.

“We are conducting a thorough review of the case to determine if a change in protocol and/or testing methods will prevent such a discrepancy in test results in the future,” said police Deputy Chief Bart Connelly.

“We do have a concern as to the field test giving a positive indication and the lab test giving a negative result,” he said.

Tallo denied taking any drugs, prescription or otherwise. He admitted to drinking one beer during a night of dancing with a friend at the American Legion on Fort Myers Beach.

After giving him an on-site urine test, police sent the sample to a state lab for further testing. Prosecutors dropped the charge after the test came back negative, said Samantha Syoen, spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office.

“I knew the test would come back negative,” said Tallo, an Army veteran. “There’s something wrong with this whole DUI thing,” he said.

Tallo’s attorney, Michelle Berthiaume, said she thinks police made an error at the checkpoint. She said a review of police procedures at checkpoints is in order.

Although there are some concerns because of Tallo’s case, “We are relieved that our officers acted with reasonableness and discretion in writing Mr. Tallo a traffic citation rather than taking him to jail,” Connelly said.

However, Tallo said the police were anything but reasonable that night.

Tallo said they initially handcuffed him and told him he was going to jail before letting him go.

By the time he was released, his car had been towed and he and his friend, Mary DeBenedetta, 62, who was not charged, walked two miles to her house after midnight, Tallo said.

“I think it’s appalling. I’ve never been arrested before in my life,” Tallo said.

Tallo said he’s asked Berthiaume to petition to have his DUI arrest stricken from court records.

“That’s what’s most important to me right now, a clean record,” he said.

Berthiaume is also working to have James Wilhelm’s DUI arrest stricken from court records.

Wilhelm was jailed for eight hours after being charged with DUI at a checkpoint in Cape Coral in March, although a breath test indicated zero alcohol in his system.

He was charged after police said they smelled a faint odor of alcohol on his breath and he failed to walk a straight line in his bare feet.

The city hired an attorney to have Wilhelm’s arrest stricken from court records. He has since rejected the city’s offer and hired Berthiaume.

Really, did you call me a moron? Must be the alcohol talking.