WEST SPRINGFIELD – A sobriety checkpoint recently conducted by state and local police on Memorial Avenue, along with beefed-up patrols by troopers in the Liberty Heights neighborhood of Springfield, yielded 8 arrests for drunk driving.
Trooper Nicole Morrell said the beefed-up Springfield patrols occurred in the area of the rotary that services Liberty and Armory streets and Interstate 291.
Both the patrols and the sobriety checkpoint were conducted last Friday night into Saturday morning. State police also made one misdemeanor arrest, issued one criminal summons and issued 63 motor vehicle citations, Morrell said.
West Springfield police aided in the sobriety checkpoint and made one of the eight drunken driving arrests, Morrell said.
State police plan to conduct another sobriety checkpoint somewhere in Hampden County this coming Friday night into Saturday morning, Morrell said.
Such checkpoints and extra-patrols are funded by grants from the Highway Safety Division of the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.