DUI truck, road rage car on display today

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Tucson Citizen

The Pima County Sheriff's Department today was to unveil its new DUI van, a $93,000 truck funded by federal grants through the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

The department also was to have its 2006 Dodge "Hemi" Charger undercover road rage vehicle on display along with two armored Pima County Regional SWAT team trucks at 9 a.m. today at the STAR playground, just west of sheriff's headquarters at 1750 E. Benson Highway.

The DUI van is to be used for Southern Arizona DUI Task Force deployments and Sheriff's Department DUI checkpoints, said Lt. Karl Woolridge.

The road rage car, also obtained with a grant from the highway safety office, is to be used to patrol for aggressive drivers, Woolridge said. The car was obtained about a month ago for some $25,000, Woolridge said.

The van, a Ford E450, is equipped with a specially designed chair where drunken-driving suspects can sit while deputies draw blood samples for alcohol analysis, Woolridge said.

This information is courtesy of http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/