Cat Cora Cited for DUI

It would be interesting if the statistics for drunk driving arrests and convictions were posted publicly in a way where we knew where the people came from prior to being pulled over.

I say this because it would be interesting to find out the comparative impacts the casino, the wine bars, tasting events, and regular taverns have on public safety.

I was with a group of people on the patio of the Boathouse last summer. Cat was there with her girlfriend (I had no idea who she was, nor do I care). They were using a chair to put their purses on. The place was packed. I politely asked if I could use the extra chair. She said "no" and that it was bad luck to put purses on the ground. Karma, baby!

Reluctantly crouched at the starting line,
engines pumping and thumping in time.
the green light flashes, the flags go up,
churning and burning, they yearn for the cup,
they deftly maneuver and muscle for rank,
fuel burning fast on an empty tank,

Indy, she CLEARLY was arrested for DUI, but just not booked into County Jail. She received a citation with a court date and was booked into the Sobering Center. Theoretically the Sobering Center would not have actually released her until they felt she was no longer under the influence of alcohol.

I'm not sure of SBPD's criteria for booking DUI suspects into the Sobering Center vs. booking them into the County Jail. I thought just those arrested for public drunkeness went to the Sobering Center [assuming they were cooperative enough], but evidently I was wrong.

"She said she had consumed three bottles of beer at Cold Spring Tavern and was on her way home ..."

Yikes, so this person drove down 154 with 0.19 blood alcohol? Scary!

LegendaryYeti is reading between the lines. The correct objectivity of the Independent report does require reader questions. Seemingly, some preferred treatment was given to this reportedly DUI and at-fault in the accident low-level star. Good-looks, blonde, friendly with PD? Fundraising 'community' for local activities leagues? The mind does churn with the possibilities with this reported sobriety center stop rather than a booking at the county jail.

Keep an eye on our County Court System. I'd bet good hard cash she gets special treatment. The masses would get the usual license suspension, fine, traffic school, 48 hours minimum jail. Hey Joyce D., we are watching. Not that you care.....did Cat donate to your campaign? Just curious.

I hate to agree with many of the other posters here, but I too suspect this entire case will be quietly swept under the rug in the very near future.

Hopefully alert court watchers will keep an eye open & let the media & rest of us know when it comes up in court.

If it's "business as usual," the SB judge who handles this will again affirm there are two systems of justice here in The American Riviera, and money does indeed talk.

Let's hope this is not the case; hold your breath.

More than twice the Legal Limit and she was not booked into County?

@LegendaryYeti, people are booked into county jail for lesser offenses, including drunk in public. The "sobering center" is special treatment at its best.

Ummm....cited but not arrested? You can receive an arrest citation. If she was transported to Goleta Valley to give blood she was arrested. She just hasn't been booked. She will be required to to appear at the police station for mug shot and booking.

I don't follow Cat Cora, nor am I an advocate for drunk driving, but it seems booking her in a sobering center fits the details as outlined in this news report (as she was 'cited' not 'arrested.').

I found this online (not much info on our local Sobering Center, run by Thresholds to Recovery of Santa Maria).

From a Grand Jury report:

"Sobering Centers

- Santa Barbara - 17 East Haley Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101
- Santa Maria - 812-A West Foster Road, Santa Maria, CA 93455

"One of the newer concepts in the management of public drunkenness is the establishment of Sobering Centers. Persons who have been apprehended for being drunk in public may be detained in a Sobering Center, usually for six hours, then released. The expense of transporting them to the County Jail, paying the booking fee and subsequently prosecuting them is thereby avoided. This saves the cities a significant amount of money.

"Persons who have been apprehended for being drunk in public can be admitted to the Sobering Center seven times. On the eighth occasion, they are criminally prosecuted. Persons apprehended for the crimes of being drunk and disorderly or for drunk driving do not have the option of being admitted to the Sobering Center. They are always prosecuted.

"This program is currently in effect in Santa Barbara (opened in March, 1994) and in Santa Maria (opened in December, 1994). The Santa Barbara City Police Department contracts out its Sobering Center to the Threshold to Recovery organization."
http://www.sbcgj.org/95-96/e.htm

Its funny about the comments about two levels of justice since the only reason we are even talking about this is because she is a celebrity. Bit hypocritical?

I find it interesting she had .20 readings a good 30 minutes or later from the time she could have left Cold Springs (allowing for travel time). Is it possible to get to .20 from 3 beers consumed over some time (assuming she didn’t chug 3 beers in a row then get in car)?

Don, et al, I don't think the average DUI suspect goes to the Sobering Center - usually it's just straight to jail. I agree that booking her into the Sobering Center instead of the County Jail would appear to be special treatment for a celebrity. As Chester's information would appear to show, I thought the Sobering Center was only for those arrested for public drunkeness, not for DUI.

My main point was that she was indeed arrested and will be prosecuted for DUI. The citation doesn't mean she's just being ticketed for a traffic infraction, as I think some in Internetland may interpret it. All the citation does is give her a court date for her initial appearance, and it's exactly what the jail would have given her at the time of her release had she been booked into the jail.

Tyler, I think Sgt. Harwood was trying to tell you that the defendant was arrested for DUI, given a citation, and booked into the Sobering Center. The real story is not the citation, and I wouldn't focus on it - the real story is why she wasn't booked into the County Jail after she was arrested.

NEWSFLASH: She was unknown to most people until now.

OK, Tyler, admitting her into the Sobering Center as opposed to booking her into County Jail wasn't special treatment, since [per the PD news release] two other DUI suspects were admitted to the Sobering Center as well. In my day DUI suspects went to jail, period.

In any event, the citation is irrelevant.

If she hires Daryl Genis to represent her, we may see another SB-based "reality" show.

These two online resources significantly challenge Cora's claim of 3 bottles of beer at Cold Spring Tavern just prior to the accident (report says she tested .19 or .20).

Phoenix House chart: http://www.factsontap.org/factsontap/...

- Woman, 140 pounds, 3 drinks in an hour:
BAC of .11

University of Oklahoma Police Department BAC calculator: http://www.ou.edu/oupd/bac.htm

- 140 pound person, 3 beers in first hour:
BAC of .08

The most remarkable thing about drunk drivers is the premeditation factor. They know they are going to get drunk, and after this decision, they fail to secure a designated driver/cab.

I love Cat Cora, she's my favorite Iron Chef! I'm sad that she made this bad choice and so glad that nobody was harmed. I'm very disappointed that she chose to drink and drive and grateful that she added a message to the article accepting responsibility and saying she will never do it again. That's a step in the right direction for sure!

To rule out special treatment, one would have to know (ask?) why the other three people where not driven to the sobering center.

It rather appears that not one person, but three people got special treatment.

Does the grand jury report, cited above, from 1996 still apply today?

"It would be interesting if the statistics for drunk driving arrests and convictions were posted publicly ....

I say this because it would be interesting to find out the comparative impacts the casino, the wine bars, tasting events, and regular taverns have on public safety."
-- billclausen

Here's the problem, billclausen. The statistics would only reflect where the cops establish DUI check points or where they lurk looking for drunks on the road. Such statistics may will not reflect actual drunk driving.

Will she hire a super lawyer from "the league of extraordinary DUI defense attorneys"?

SezMe is correct.

But casual observance causes me to suspect the drunk driving quantities along with other distracted driving problems are much worse and unquantifiable without hiring a lot more objective police. The subjectivity of police locally is that of someone looking for a friend to donate to their non-profit cause PAL and/or public relations TV show On Patrol. Training bar owners and employees, baby sitting their establishments along with non-profits like Old Spanish Days is delicate balance just ripe for systemic corruption.

You have a rather high numbers of sportsman motorcycle riders, high-performance hot-rodders, booming cruisers amongst chatty environmental texters and inattentive yackety yaks nose pickers all in the context of communities where children are supposed to ride bicycles and skip to school yards past front porch communities. Its all rather incongruous.

Tyler Hayden has made some clarifications and others have countered. I'll have to pay closer attention to on patrol but I don't recall a dui'er ever offered the sobriety center on the TV. Could be but I don't recall.

So TMZ jumped on board with video taken in the moments right after the fender bender which does the Iron Chef no favors.

Nice job by the Independent in being cautious with the wording in their reporting of the initial story and spotting the item as it was tucked away in the initial report.

^^^

http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/11/cat-cor...

They should be going after the dead beat people and give them DUI.s I would drop the case and give her a break.

She says she'll never do it again? I said that 6 times over the years. And I always went to jail....I finally got help...I don't know this woman but believe me she will drink and drive again. Maybe not get caught, but maybe next time kill or hurt someone. If she was anywhere near the "legal" limit I could see not taking her to jail but she was DRUNK! And rear-ended someone! I think she should have gone to jail and sit in a holding tank on a stainless steel bench all night having to use the toilet with no seat in front of all the other common people...eating that gourmet peanut butter and jelly then get kicked at 4:00am. Even that never taught me. What are they going to do to her to get it through her head? Throw the book at her I hope! Sounds funny but I wish they would have been harder on me the first time....