Delaware County seems to have cornered the market on repeat DUI offenders.
First there was the tragedy that snuffed out the life of 45-year-old Deana Eckman. She was killed a year ago by a man facing his sixth DUI offense.
Then we encountered Mark Perrotta. The Ridley man is back behind bars, currently awaiting trial on his 11th DUI offense. The last time he was in court, the judge noted "it's just dumb luck he hasn't seriously injured or killed somebody."
The same could be said of the incident that played out Tuesday night on the Media Bypass in Upper Providence. Police were on patrol there when they spotted a driver going the wrong way on the heavily traveled route about 9:30 p.m. Police say John Martinka was driving southbound in the northbound lanes of travel.
Only the quick action of Upper Providence officer Scott Ely prevented a tragedy. Ely put his vehicle diagonally across the highway to cut off the suspect. The driver actually stopped, then tried to drive around the police cruiser, striking it in the meantime. He was finally boxed in on the ramp to State Road.
No officers were injured in the incident.
Police say this was not John Martinka's first trip down this road.
Actually, it was his seventh DUI offense.
All of this is a reminder of the need for Deana's Law. The legislation, named in honor of Deana Eckman, would toughen penalties for repeat offenders and institute measure that would make it much harder for them to get behind the wheel.
Sponsored by Sen. Tom Killion, here are some of the things it would do:
* Require Continuous Alcohol Monitoring Devices in the form of innovative bracelet technology that automatically notifies officials when repeat DUI offenders consume alcohol in violation of court directives. This allows law enforcement to prevent these offenders from getting behind the wheel again while intoxicated.
* Substantially increase the levels of felony convictions for repeat DUI offenders, resulting in additional jail time and monetary fines.
* Double the time period repeat DUI offenders must use ignition interlock devices on their vehicles.
* Direct the Pennsylvania State Police, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to formulate recommendations for using DUI Courts around the state. DUI Courts specialize in drunk driving cases to better focus on the appropriate sentencing and treatment of DUI offenders.
* Prohibit concurrent sentencing for some repeat offenders so they are not able to take advantage of serving sentences for multiple DUI convictions at the same time. This will result in penalizing these offenders over a longer period.
The measure passed the Pa. Senate unanimously. It now is being taken up by the Pa. House.
The anniversary of Deana Eckman's death is Sunday.
Comments