Holiday weekend saw few accidents, fewer DUI arrests

Labor Day weekend proved dangerous for motorists in Northwest Florida, with multiple wrecks resulting in death and serious injuries and several arrests for driving under the influence.

To help reduce the number of accidents, the Florida Highway Patrol spent the holiday weekend trying with stepped-up DUI enforcement, Lt. Steve Preston said. Two teams of officers operated throughout the 10-county Troop A region was dedicated solely to DUI enforcement. The highly visible teams of officers focus on a small area and are known as “wolf packs,” Preston said.

These teams arrested four people for driving under the influence and issued a total of 122 citations, 81 warnings and 72 faulty equipment notices.

A comprehensive roadside safety checkpoint also was part of FHP’s enforcement strategy for the weekend. The checkpoint, located on State 79 in Washington County just north of the Bay County line, led to eight citations, 11 written warnings and 27 faulty equipment notices.

Bay County Sheriff’s Office also had one arrest for drunken driving.

Though traffic was busy over the weekend, Panama City Beach Police Chief Robert Harding said most motorists were safe and the beach had no drunken driving arrests.

“Traffic would get heavy at night around 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., but when you have families it’s not like a Spring Break crowd,” he said.

But the weekend still saw two fatal accidents and several others with serious injuries.

An early morning wreck Sunday in Panama City Beach left two dead after two vehicles collided at the intersection of Shalimar Street and Front Beach Road at about 4:30 a.m.

Michael Wayne Cash, of Tallahassee, who turned 45 the day before, was traveling west on Front Beach Road in his Dodge truck at a “high rate of speed” when 56-year-old Larry Randolph Plant, of Verona Street in Panama City Beach, cut in front of him, making a righthand turn off Shalimar Street in a Lincoln limousine, according to the incident report from PCBPD. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

A second wreck on the beach sent a motorcyclist to the hospital with serious injuries when Florida Highway Patrol reported he ran a red light on U.S. 98 at the intersection of Woodlawn Drive west of the Hathaway Bridge just before 1 p.m. Monday.

Fadi A. Sidani, 42, of Panama City Beach, was thrown from his 2006 Honda motorcycle when he struck a Ford Mustang that was turning left off Woodlawn Drive onto U.S. 98 East. He was taken to Bay Medical Center with serious injuries. The busy highway temporarily was restricted to one lane until the crash was cleared, troopers .

A single-vehicle accident in Holmes County also resulted in serious injuries for the driver, Carlton Hall, 23, of Westville, and his passenger, Joe Sampson, 49, of Ponce de Leon Springs, when their 1993 Pontiac went off the left side of the road and into several trees, according to an FHP report.