'Enough is enough': El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson launches DWI crackdown

Yahoo

20-05-2025

Drunken driving in El Paso was described as a "crisis" requiring tougher enforcement, a united community response and changes to societal attitudes, local political leaders, police and victims' families said.
A new "Enough is Enough" DWI clampdown — including impounding vehicles of unlicensed and uninsured drivers — was announced on Monday, May 19, in time for Memorial Day weekend, graduation season and the start of summer.
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson was joined by families who lost loved ones in drunken-driving related crashes and a dozen local law enforcement and political leaders at a news conference in the El Paso convention center rotunda.
'El Paso, enough is enough," Johnson said. "Today we are drawing a line in the sand when it comes to drinking and driving in our community. The status quo is unacceptable and we will not tolerate a culture that treats drinking and driving as anything less than a deadly threat to our great citizens of El Paso and this region."
Johnson, El Paso District Attorney James Montoya and El Paso County Sheriff Oscar Ugarte all took office in January after winning their respective elections in November. All three said that driving-while-intoxicated was a concern they repeatedly heard from residents while on the campaign trail.
The El Paso District Attorney's Office files close to 2,500 misdemeanor DWI cases annually and about 250 to 300 repeat felony DWI cases each year, Montoya said. A first time offender usually gets a punishment of 12-18 months probation.
The sheriff's newly created El Paso County DWI Task Force made 48 arrests, including 37 DWI arrests, over two days this past weekend, Ugarte said. The task force included sheriff's deputies, county constables, Texas state troopers and police from El Paso, Socorro, Horizon City, San Elizario, Clint and Anthony, Texas.
U.S. Army Brig Gen. Rory A. Crooks, deputy commanding general of operations at Fort Bliss, El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego, Texas Department of Public Safety and other officials were also present at the mayor's news conference.
A parent's pain of losing a child to a drunk driver is unimaginable and El Paso is "facing a crisis" with drunken driving, Lupe Hernandez Lucero said while wearing a black memorial T-shirt with a photo of her son, Steven Anthony Hernandez.
Steven Anthony Hernandez, 28, an aspiring musician who went by the name "Stevie Suave," was in the passenger seat of a car T-boned by a suspected repeat DWI driver who allegedly ran a stop light in the far East Side on May 21, 2023. The defendant, Valeria Mena, faces murder and intoxication manslaughter charges in a case scheduled to go to trial in November.
Lucero is with the Sober Streets Movement, an El Paso anti-DWI advocacy group formed by victims' families "born from the heartbreak but fueled by purpose," she said.
Sober Streets Movement is calling for changes to Texas laws for DWI-related crimes, including:
Mandatory jail time for repeat DWI offenders.
Public transparency about sentencing and court accountability.
DWI checkpoints, which are currently banned in Texas.
Photos of other victims were also displayed at the news conference, including Parkland High School student Anahi Karla Leanos, who was killed a day before her 18th birthday when a suspected intoxicated driver crashed into her car stopped on the César Chávez Border Highway on Jan. 5, 2024. The defendant, Ruger Garrett Clark, is scheduled to go to trial in December on charges of intoxication manslaughter and a collision involving a death.
'We are families demanding justice. We are a city calling for accountability," Lucero said. "Driving under the influence is not an accident, it's a choice. And when our justice system gives drunk drivers an easy way out, it's not just failing victims. It's endangering everyone."
El Paso Police Chief Peter Pacillas said that along with bolstered DWI enforcement there will be "zero tolerance on traffic violations" and the impounding of vehicles of those caught without a driver's license and auto insurance.
"If you do not have a driver's license or insurance, expect your vehicle to be impounded," Pacillas warned.
In 2024, El Paso police made more than 1,300 arrests for DWI and 181 arrests of drivers with multiple DWIs.
"We are not going to arrest our way out of this," Pacillas said, adding that it must be a community effort to curb drunk driving. El Paso police have had a permanent DWI Task Force for years.
The societal acceptance by some that drunk-driving is just something that accidentally happens needs to end, Montoya, the district attorney, said. El Paso juries have a reputation for being lenient in drunken-driving cases.
Drinking alcohol, having a good time and celebrating is not a crime, but people make the choice to drink, make the choice to drive and there are consequences that can end with someone injured or killed, Montoya said.
"Each and every person knows an ostensibly good person, a working person who commits this crime," Montoya said. "They might be your friends. They might be your family members. And we have a duty to ostracize them and condemn them and tell them, 'I know what you do and it's wrong.' That's the only way we will be able to change the societal acceptance that this just happens."
Socorro Mayor Rudy Cruz Jr. echoed Montoya's sentiments, saying that there needs to be a cultural change with an emphasis on drinking responsibly.
'We celebrate just about anything," Cruz said. "We celebrate the births, the quinceañeras, the graduations. We celebrate just to celebrate. We celebrate when people pass and I think the culture needs to change now and we need to celebrate responsibly."
Daniel Borunda may be reached at [e-mail] and @BorundaDaniel on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 'Enough is enough': El Paso mayor launches DWI crackdown