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Fresno D.A.'s Office Receives Grant To Further DUI Program

The Fresno District Attorney's Office has received help in their pursuit to further the DUI-ROAD Grant program.

On Tuesday, District Attorney Elizabeth Egan announced the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration awarded the office a one-year $476,500 grant for the program.

The program, Driving Under the Influence-Repeat Offender and Death/Injury Prosecution Program, will be able to use the money to further their work with law enforcement agencies in an effort to reduce the number of DUI offenders, and especially the number of those killed or injured each year in a DUI related accident.

Some of the money will be put towards a specialized team, which investigates and prosecutes DUI cases.

"This grant will allow us to respond aggressively to the most serious of DUI offenders: those who kill or seriously injure others as a result of driving while impaired because of alcohol or drugs," Egan said.

According to Egan, as of August of this year, the D.A.'s office has filed 4,754 DUI related cases. Five of those cases were fatalities, and 84 were serious injuries. This year's number are down from 2008, which saw 8,127 DUI related cases, 13 of which were fatalities.

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