Residents Speak out on Chief Baker’s DUI Arrest

Photo by John Arundel/Local Kicks A sobriety checkpoint on Richmond Highway in Alexandria last month.

Last year in Virginia, where the population is well over seven million, there were 24,095 DUI arrests in the Commonwealth of Virginia.  
 
Add one more arrest to the shocking numbers with Saturday evening’s apprehension by Arlington County police of Alexandria Police Chief Baker who blew a .19 at about 11:00 p.m.
 
On Monday, Local Kicks hit the streets to garner citizen reaction to the high-profile arrest of a man who is himself tasked with enforcing drunk driving laws.  Baker, 58, stepped down Tuesday.

Photo by John Arundel/Local Kicks Fairfax County Police officers ask questions at a Saturday night DUI checkpoint.

“I’m disappointed.  What else can I say?" said Old Town resident Hillary Bennett.  "I think he should voluntarily step down and seek a treatment plan for alcohol abuse.  With that level of alcohol, he knows better and this indicates that he has a deeper problem with alcohol.”

A coffee drinker who preferred to remain anonymous commented, “The man probably needs treatment for alcoholism, and based on that we will see if he is fit for duty.  He has done a good job so far, but blowing a .19 indicates a problem.”

City resident Susan Botts offered this opinion:  “I am just shocked.  It’s a disappointment.  My brother-in-law is a police chief, and I know he would never do something like that.  I just hope Chief Baker pays the consequences.”

Alexandria business owner Robert Steidl, had this to say: “Don’t do it, period.  Don’t drink and drive.  They should treat him like anybody else and he should lose his job, or people will think if he can do it, I can do it.  He has probably done it before and not gotten caught.  I don’t have a lot of patience for people who drink and drive.”

Old Town denizen and former Scotland Yard owner James Graham agreed, adding to the chorus of disappointed voices in the man charged with maintaining law and order in Alexandria.     
 
“People who don’t get caught keep doing it,” he said.  “But even then, people with a real problem keep driving anyway, like Princess Diana’s mother,”
 
With approximately 7,000 fatalities on the road caused by drunk drivers in the United States last year, it is not hard to understand why.
 
Email the writer at kirstenobadal@hotmail.com