Where did you have your last drink?
About a year ago, Austin police began asking drunken driving suspects a new question as part of their roadside investigation: Where did you have your last drink?
Officers began logging the answers in their offense reports and compiling a list of the most frequently mentioned bars and restaurants. Then they started sending the information to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
The agency began investigating establishments on the list. Since this spring, it has issued citations against at least five of them, and it is trying to yank the alcohol license of Dallas Nightclub on Burnet Road, which tops the list. Forty people arrested for DWI since January have said they consumed their last drink at Dallas.
Dallas, which says the statistics unfairly imply that they knowingly serve drunken patrons, is fighting the agency’s attempt to revoke its license.
“We aren’t naive enough to think that we are going to stop drunk driving,” agency Lt. Robert Saenz said. “But if we can help reduce it, then we think we are contributing to this fight.”
Austin is the first city to provide such statistics to the agency. Saenz and other officials said they hope to persuade police in other cities to do the same.
The list, obtained by the Austin American-Statesman this week, includes other well-known venues. Read the rest of this entry »