Worst of the worst drunk drivers

Albuquerque {KRQE} - Blitzed behind the wheel. News 13 took a look at some of the worst of the worst drunk drivers arrested in 2010 in Bernalillo and Sandoval counties, and most of them are no strangers to a breathalyzer.

Steve Trujillo had a .40 blood alcohol level when Rio Rancho Police arrested him. Court records show it was Trujillo’s sixth DWI arrest.

“Usually when you get somebody at this high of level they are a professional drinker, they're a professional alcoholic,” Lt. Paul Hensen with APD’s DWI unit said. “Most people, most individuals in these high levels in the fours and high threes, would not be conscious.”

Police said Eugene Elkshoulder was so drunk he couldn't even form words to talk to officers. The DWI hotline was flooded with calls about Elkshoulder before he crashed his car into a curb. His BAC was .41; it's his third DWI arrest.

The next two drivers tied for the number one spot. Both Phillip Clark and Raul Muniz had .42 BACs. Albuquerque Police said Clark was passed out in the driver’s seat after crashing his car in November. He didn't learned his lesson though, he was arrested again for DWI in January.

Linda Atkinson runs the DWI Resource Center, the organization tracking these drivers, “To think they are out there operating a 2000 pound weapon on the roadway is, I think, extremely frightening.”

News 13 also took a look at the list of repeat offenders arrested again in 2010.
Stephen Stuck got his 14th DWI arrest. (He has 6 convictions.) He was hauled off to jail three times for DWI in just two months in 1992.

Peter Silversmith also got his 14th DWI in 2010; he has 10 convictions.

News 13 profiled Apolonio Lopez last year when he got his 18th DWI charge; he's been convicted 11 times. A Bernalillo County Sheriff's Deputy said Lopez almost rammed him from behind as he flew down I-25 last April.

Atkinson said these men should have gotten more jail time, and more treatment years ago, “I think we are continuing to miss the opportunity we have when they are arrested the first time to get their attention.”

More than 300 drivers were arrested last year for their 4th or subsequent DWI.

To give you an idea of what it would take to have a .40 blood alcohol level, a 180-pound man would have to down 23 shots of whiskey in 4 hours to get that drunk.