An investigator with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has been arrested on charges of drunk driving.

According to officials with the Austin Police Department, Bryan Vaclavik was arrested Sunday evening. Investigators say the incident began approximately 5:00 p.m. when Vaclavik collided with a woman’s vehicle as she backed out of her driveway on Wilson Street. Police say that Vaclavik drove away after the accident and collided with another parked car.

According to the arrest report, police found Vaclavik about an hour after the two accidents. He was a mile away and his car was parked on top of a fence. He was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated and failure to stop and give information.

Vaclavik was the chief fraud examiner for the financial crimes division of the district attorney’s office.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Houston, please contact the Houston DWI Lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

An allegedly drunk driver in Houston is accused of striking and killed a pedestrian Tuesday.

According to Houston police, 49 year-old James John Onak struck and killed Fadel Steadman and kept going after the victim had crashed through the windshield and landed next to him in the passenger’s seat. Police say Steadman’s car broke down in the emergency lane around 12:30 a.m. and he was running back and forth across the freeway when he was struck.

Authorities say Onak did not realize what had happened until he was pulled over by police 10 minutes after the Houston drunk driving accident. Police say Onak claimed he was aware he hit something, but not that a body was lying beside him.

Investigators say toxicology results are expected in the next few days.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Two men were arrested on DWI charges outside Houston last week.

According to officials with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department, 35 year-old Roger D. Collins, of Ava, and 42 year-old Mykel W. Freeman, of Plato, were arrested for DWI over the weekend. Both men were arrested by the Texas State Patrol and handed over to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department.

Police said Collins was charged with a felony DWI – persistent offender, driving while revoked, failure to register motor vehicle, and inoperable license plate lamps. Collins was arrested and taken to the Texas County Jail.
Freeman was arrested early Saturday in Phelps County and charged with DWI, speeding, and wearing no seatbelt. He was also transported to the Texas County Jail.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Texas, please contact the Houston DWI Lawyers of Johnson Johnson & Baer, P.C., at 713-222-0400.

A Houston man involved in a fatal car accident Sunday was arrested on drunken driving charges.

According to investigators with the Houston Police Department, 27 year-old Porfiro Curz Almendarez was charged with driving while intoxicated early Sunday morning. Police say Almendarez was driving a green Mazda 626 and turning south onto Campbell Road shortly after 2:00 a.m. when he allegedly failed to yield the right of way.

Almendarez allegedly pulled in front of a black Mitsubishi Lancer that was traveling east on Clay Road. The Mazda and the Mitsubishis collided in the intersection, authorities said.

The female driver of the Mitsubishi was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident. Her identity has not been released.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Houston, please contact the Houston drunk driving attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer P.C. at 713-222-0400.

A man in Montgomery County was sentenced to 99 years in prison after being convicted of driving while intoxicated for the 16th time.
According to Montgomery County prosecutors, 52 year-old James Steven Corley was pulled over for a broken taillight in August. He was arrested for felony DWI after a breathalyzer test showed his blood-alcohol content to be .10. The legal limit in Texas is .08.
“This defendant is an extremely dangerous driver,” Montgomery County Assistant District Attorney Warren Dipramm said at the trial. “Practically every time he’s getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle, according to the testimony, he is driving drunk. He testified that whenever he does it, he doesn’t think about anybody who is on the street with him. It’s all about him; all about getting drunk.”
Corley was sentenced as a habitual offender to 99 years in prison. He is eligible for parole in 10 years.
If you have been charged with drunk driving in Texas, please contact the Houston Drunk Driving Lawyers of Johnson Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

A House committee was urged by lawmakers Tuesday to repeal the Texas Driver Responsibility Program.

The goal of the Texas Driver Responsibilty Program was to stick people convicted of drunken driving with large surcharges, on top of regular fines and punishment. The revenue from the three-year-long surcharges was supposed to go to hospital trauma centers and highway projects.

Critics of the program told a House committee on Tuesday that it has failed to live up to the original goals of the Legislature. “This is a classic example of legislation that had incredible unintended consequences,” said Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth. “IT was an ill-conceived law and an example of bad tax policy.”

Opponents of the program cited a recent report from the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that found the program had actually decreased DWI conviction rates and increased dismissal rates since it was implemented in 2003. Thousands of drunken driving defendants have asked for a trial, in order to avoid the DWI surcharges, forcing prosecutors to accept plea bargains for lesser offenses such as reckless driving.

If you have been charged with DWI in Houston, please contact the Houston drunk driving lawyers of Johnson Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

Authorities have announced a state-wide initiative intensifying DWI patrols during spring break.

According to a statement released by the Texas Highway Patrol, troopers will be out in force across the state at popular spring break locations deemed to be “high-risk.” The statement was addressed state-wide so it did not specify Houston-specific locations.

The Houston Police Department will be working with the Texas Highway Patrol, increasing police presence in the city from March 12-20. Police will also dispatch additional blood alcohol testing vehicles, known as BAT vans, around the city.

In the statement, the Highway Patrol also mentioned underage drinking. Authorities encouraged college and high school students to remember that it is illegal to drink while under the age of 21.

If you have been charged with DWI or DUI in Houston, please contact the Houston Drunk Driving Attorneys of Johnson Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

Harris County has the most driving while intoxicated fatalities in the United States, and Houston Police say new “BAT” vans will prevent this statistic from lingering.

According to officials with the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Department, new Blood Alcohol Testing vans will be dispatched in an effort to combat drunk driving. Called “BAT” vans, the new vehicles will be stationed around Houston in hopes of getting drunk drivers off the streets.

Deputies say the “BAT” vans will be stationary. When a patrol officer suspects a driver is intoxicated, the suspect will be taken to a van where they will be processed and given a breathalyzer test. Depending on the outcome of the breathalyzer test, a suspect will be put in the holding area at the back of the van.

If you have been charged with drunk driving in Harris County, please contact the Houston Drunk Driving Lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

The Houston Police Department launched a six-month campaign Wednesday to heighten patrols and DWI enforcement on area roadways.

Members of the Houston Police Department’s Traffic Enforcement Division announced the city-wide initiative during a press conference Wednesday, outside of the department’s Central Patrol Station. The campaign is a joint agency initiative with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, Crime Stoppers, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The program is designed to reduce drunk driving accidents by heightening enforcement of drinking and driving offenses. The heightened enforcement will also be combined with public education. The HPD said it will deploy breath alcohol testing vehicles to various strategic locations around the city in an effort to catch suspected drunk drivers.

“We are going to send a couple on the south side and a couple on the north side every Week, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,” Assistant Chief Brian Lumpkin said. “We’re going to get out there and we’re going to find some of these drunks before they get into crashes.”

Drunk driving offenses are aggressively prosecuted, and engaging the services of an experienced attorney is vital. If you have been charged with DWI, please contact the Houston DWI Lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., by calling 713-222-0400.

Musician Emilio Navaira has been named in a $1 million lawsuit relating to a 2008 DWI crash.

According to San Antonio District Court Documents, Navaira, lead singer of the band Tejano, was driving the band’s tour bus on Easter morning in 2008 when the bus crashed outside of Houston. Navaira was ejected from the vehicle in the crash and sustained major head trauma and brain injury. It was later discovered that he was legally intoxicated at the time of the wreck.

Band-mate Ricardo Vega has filed a lawsuit against Navaira seeking $1 million in damages. Vega was one of seven passengers on-board the bus at the time of the accident. Vega contends that he still suffers from injuries he sustained in the crash.

Vega told reporters that, while he has sympathy for his former band-mate, he feels that he must seek damages because of Navaira’s choice to drive drunk.

If you have been arrested for drunk driving, don’t hesitate to contact the experienced Houston DWI defense lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer, P.C., today by calling 713-222-0400.