On Sunday, June 22, 2014, at approximately 2321 hours, two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers assigned to the Bridgeport Area office were conducting a traffic stop on Château Road, west of the Mammoth Rock & Bowl. While on the traffic stop the officers observed a Jeep SUV exit the Mammoth Rock & Bowl parking lot at a high rate of speed. The quick acceleration caused the Jeep to break traction (burn out) and the officers watched as the vehicle skidded into the opposing lane of traffic.
The officers conducted a stop on the Jeep and identified the driver as Mr. Daniel Ledesma, 42, of Mammoth Lakes, California. As the officers spoke to Mr. Ledesma they noted the odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from within the vehicle. The officers conducted a driving under the influence investigation during which a preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) device was used. The PAS device yielded a preliminary blood alcohol content of .195 percent (nearly two and a half times the legal limit of .08 percent). Mr. Ledesma was arrested for driving under the influence and booked into the Mono County Jail in Bridgeport, California.
The driver from the original stop was released with a warning.
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Crazy how going out and getting plastered drunk is a cultural norm in today’s society, I mean Y’all remember the movie “hangover” that was a hit, people loved it, glorifying the activities of getting wasted, but yet if you consume marijuana you deserve at least a citation from the law? See how long it takes for societies to get over the propaganda produced decades ago…
It makes me think of how back in the early 1900’s doctors kept telling people how drinking from a “common cup” can help spread illness, but people were so stuck in their ways they would disregard what the professionals were saying and continued to drink the water the way they have always done so… it took a ban on the “common cup” to make the people stop spreading germs to one another..
My point is we still see today how people will hang on to outdated regressive ideologies and actions, that only hold relevance in our lives through the perpetuation of traditional values that all too commonly refuse to acknowledge the emerging world around us.
The CHP has the legal authority to cite or arrest anywhere in the state of California, it doesn’t matter if its within the city or town limits of any community…You complainers should be happy to see a CHP Officer in the town, that’s just one more patrol car providing law enforcement service..
To bad they won’t arrest people who crossed our boarder illegally.
Roy, I don’t think ” happy” is the word I feel when I see the CHP hiding in the bushes drooling to give me a ticket. But I do think you believe that.
Mammoth is easy pickings for DUI’s. Benett clearly or unclearly forgets the seventies when the law would follow you home or take you home when you had to many. The parking lots are still full every night and the drinking crowds are growing younger. But the parking lots are amazingly empty at the end of the night.
Yes, I remember when officers used to take people who had too much to drink to their nearby homes. That’s not an action that says dui is acceptable. BK
Hey trouble, that still happens today…within the year, MLPD has delivered overly drunk people (who were not driving) to my house, where they were left with a sober, responsible adult, instead of throwing them in the drunk tank (which I believe is in Bridgeport). I don’t expect them to do that, but I did appreciate their actions. and no, I was not the drunk person on either occasion.
In each instance, the people involved were not causing any trouble, ie. fighting or the such, but were noticeably drunk.
Trouble….Are you nuts ?……There was a day when LE would give a ride to a person if he were drunk….but not if he was behind the wheel of a vehicle.Can you imagine the lawsuit if a Law Enforcement officer pulled over a DUI driver,but instead of making an arrest,just told him to hop back in the car,drive home,and I’ll just “follow “you….and then he had an accident hurting or killing a family ?
Wayne,I am dead serious? you had to be a real ass to the cops to go to jail for DUI in the eighties. Before all our momma boy rules and just say no crap came along.
Trouble….Don’t know what town or city you were living in back in the 80’s,but if what your saying is true where you lived,Law Enforcement wasn’t doing their job if they allowed DUI drivers to drive home with a police escort….DUI’s aren’t a Law Enforcement descretion decision….much like if your caught with a bunch of drugs..not up to the officer if he makes an arrest or not….I think they call it a no tolerance thing..It’s not like if your driving a little over the speed limit or have a little bit of weed.DUI’s shouldn’t be in the same class as a fix-it ticket.
Wayne, if I am not mistaken, we live in the same town (LP), When I was in High School 98-02, a time when a lot of the cops that patrolled LP, lived and had family in LP, There was this one particular cop then that wouldn’t bust high school parties, he would just dump out the beer… I didn’t appreciate that then, but I do now, considering the young inexperienced cops that we have now that are just dying to use the tools on their belt!
But they weren’t so gun hoe to enforce the law, they actually used human judgement, not this “no tolerance” policy, I mean, humans make mistakes, that goes for all of us!
But yeah when it goes for drunk drivers, enforce it, but that same rule applies to those within law enforcement as well!….and politicians.. and celebrities.. and bankers… unfortunately we have this two tier justice system that judges upon what socio economic environment you come from…
So excuse me if I am not a echo chamber giving law enforcement and the Law a pat on the back!
What Justice?
I never understood why CHP is allowed to cite for traffic offenses inside the Town of Mammoth Lakes jurisdictions, on town roads. They already patrol Main Street, Highway 203, but this DUI was near the Rock & Bowl on Chateau Road! We already have our own local Police department, isn’t that enough? Maybe someone can explain this.
One fact remains, that being Mammoth is resort town, and alcohol consumption comes with the turf. But it behooves people to drink responsibly, even if the dry air & fun-loving atmosphere makes them more thirsty than usual.
CHP… Has state juristiction… being an leo myself if im out of my juristiction and i see someone break the law in a way that could possibly endanger the public… im gunna act and stop that person from what they are doing….
If you dont like cops… call a crack head the next time you need help.
We live in a culture of fear, this new day and age of Law Enforcement reflects that more then any other entity… Why shouldn’t the public speak out when we see a man shot to death when handcuffed, or people who are obviously detained and restrained but the cops continue to show obsessive force to the people of this nation, whether it be a crackhead on the street or a group of young activists organizing a rally to better our nation, what matters in this day and age is law enforcement has a job to do… this day and age of serving and protecting has gone to new uncharted territory of taking We the Peoples constitutional rights away, and at the same time protecting the economic (corporations/industries) establishments from the people… All to keep us safe right?
Law Enforcement is a very important job, but it has the same complex our Gov’t has, it doesn’t like to be embarrassed our called out on its shortcomings…
CHP Officers have peace officer powers throughout the State, as do MLPD officers and Mono County Sheriff’s Deputies. That gives them the legal authority and responsibility to enforce laws in the Town. Their primary responsibility is to patrol the State Highway, but they come in to Town for their dinner break, attend court, and to conduct business in the MLPD station. I welcome the presence of CHP and MCSO in Mammoth, but I know that the CHP Commander, Lt. Cohan, and Mono County Sheriff Obenberger both want their personnel patrolling their primary areas of responsibility.
Eastside Bum: “But it behooves people to drink responsibly…”
People drink to BECOME irresponsible. The myth of drinking responsibly is a corporate ploy by the “beverage” industry so they can sell more booze.
What we really need are more liquor licenses and bars that open at 10am in Mammoth…
Fact Checker: Not good enough. 24 hour bars with drive through windows. Lets give the people what they really want.
At approximately 2321 hours, two California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers assigned to the Bridgeport Area were lost in the town of Mammoth Lakes. While asking for directions they
observed a Jeep SUV exit the Mammoth Rock & Bowl parking lot at a high rate of speed.
Why not patrol the California Highways? I’m sure some over worked, under paid trucker needed to be pulled over to check his travel log or an innocent driver with motor troubles needed some assistance. Why not patrol the highways Mr. CHP?
Are CHPs super humans that never eat? Relax, the southern based officers go into TOML to eat, ….and dont forget that highway 203 is a STATE highway.FYI.
OK, I don’t have a problem with this CHP action, but I can’t ignore your incorrect comments. The officers were from Bridgeport, according to the article…that is not south county. 203 is a state hwy, but rock n bowl is not near the highway. they were on a traffic stop, not returning from eating when they observed this idiot peeling out. where do you get this stuff?
what I meant they were working in south county..Mammoth/Crowley ect is south county. That is where they were…Bridgeport is their home base. There is a satellite office out by the airport for them to do paperwork/computer work ect..the Bridgeport office covers from Toms Place north. Once again they were probably eating in .town.Be glad they were spending money in Mammoth….so relax….
enoughalready….I’m thinking getting an (alleged) drunk driver off the road IS patrolling the highways…but I guess it was in the TOML,where,for some,it seems driving drunk is acceptable behavior….
Wayne, I’ve never known law enforcement to think dui is acceptable behavior in Mammoth Lakes. BK
Benett…Not at all saying Law Enforcement sees it as acceptable behavior…..but some in the TOML seem to….as indicated in some of the posts below…one in particular,more or less stating ,in a resort town,it “goes with the turf”…and “the dry air” and the “fun loving atmosphere” makes them more thirsty than usual…or saying making arrests with those coming across the border is much more important than getting drunk drivers off the road…unless they were just kidding or talking tounge-in-cheek by saying it……but I don’t think they were.
that’s ridiculus wayne, no-one in mammoth encourages or accepts drunk driving. I think they do their best to tolerate drunk idiots, as long as they are a danger to anyone, but not drunk driving.
No, Wayne you are wrong about that. I’m glad they nailed that driver. My point being is that the state highways are where they should be patrolling. The TOML has their own force to patrol in their own town. 2 CHP cars patrolling the neighborhoods a mile from the state highway together is what I don’t like. I don’t like the “we do has we like” authority. The comment about “super humans having to eat” well duh. But they don’t have to eat together. The CHP officer that patrols the dirt roads in Round Valley and follows the dispatch of his wife is out of line. The CHP officers that decided to “do lunch” together at the Cardinal Village at the end of the road are not very thoughtful about what the job curtails and really don’t seem to care much about the people they work for. That is us. Its not the lunch. Its the togetherness and the slow response times. Its the lack of CHP officers patrolling the highways that bother me.
I would like to see them nail the DUIs, the fools who text and drive. Nail the speeders and the drug runners. Check the long haul truckers. Patrol the highways. Its not too much to ask.
See Chief Watson’s comment. If they come to Town for dinner, court duty, or business with MLPD and they see a crime, they will respond. Why are you so upset about that? They do patrol the highways. Benett Kessler
Will, this arrest was probably entered into the “blotter” and picked up by the reporter (“News Staff”) as news. I seriously doubt that the PD has time to prepare self-congratulatory reports on every arrest it makes. Unfortunately, DUI is a huge problem everywhere and has become ‘news’. Perhaps in an effort to show the public what the consequences are of DUI/DWI, these articles are considered a public service.
Another drunk off the road, dummies! What are you complaining about? Nobody killed or injured,… Not enough gore for you? Sheeessshhhh.
Same ol’ news; Mammoth drinking establishments over serve another patron.
Hmmm, what constitutes ‘over served’? I mean, if you’re driving, over served would be one amount and if you’re not driving, it would be completely something else. I’m not aware of any requirement that bartenders ask if you’re driving.
Typically, the ‘stop serving’ criteria has been based on a persons ability to handle themselves in public, not based on their ability to drive legally.
The local constabulary doth self-promote too much, me thinks.