5 arrested at Canon City DUI checkpoint after Super Bowl

Canon City Police Department was in full force for a busy Super Bowl Sunday night cracking down on impaired driving.

Following last year’s high number of DUI arrests, the department implemented a checkpoint to curb drunk driving.

“Last year was a bad year in Colorado with over 10 DUI arrests, which is just ridiculous — we can’t arrest our way out of the problem,” said Capt. Rich Smith.

For the first time in more than 25 years, CCPD set up a DUI checkpoint on Highway 50, where they see the most DUI-related incidents. Within two hours, 25 police officers and county sheriff’s deputies stopped more than 200 vehicles and made five arrests. One of those arrests was a wanted fugitive.

While checkpoints are effective, they are not always seen as a good thing. Attorney Jeremy Loew says some think it goes against our 4th Amendment rights.

“A lot of people argue that the DUI checkpoint — if you haven’t exhibited any bad driving — is an unreasonable stop, an unreasonable seizure,” Loew said.