CHP steps up DUI enforcement on Super Bowl Sunday

The California Highway Patrol were on the lookout for people driving under the influence. All available personnel were working on this Super Bowl Sunday and officers couldn't help but think about their colleagues who've been directly affected by motorists driving under the influence.

CHP Officer Martin Lendway was released from the hospital on Friday and is now back home recovering from two broken legs. Lendway was on Highway 4 in Concord responding to a collision when a motorist suspected of driving under the influence crashed into his motorcycle.

"I've been in that situation before where you hear a crash and hope it's not coming toward you," said Ofc. Lendway. But then to be knocked over and to be pinned under a vehicle I had to take a step back and regain my composure. I could have been killed. Thank God I wasn't."

But three weeks before, CHP Officer Andrew Camilleri died in a DUI crash on Interstate 880 in Hayward. Both cases have taken an emotional toll on the department, and for many, DUI crackdowns have taken on a whole new meaning.

"It wakes you up and reminds you that this job is dangerous and at any moment you can be gone," said Ofc. Vu Williams. "But it also, if you will, it galvanizes you. Makes you have that sense of mission that this is why I joined the highway patrol."

With alcohol being such a big part of Super Bowl gatherings, every available officer was working this Sunday, on the lookout for people driving under the influence. During a ten day crackdown last month, the Golden Gate Division arrested 307 impaired drivers. It's a figure that baffles the minds of many people who say they would never take such a risk.

"It's like $10,000 to get started with a DUI and it's like eight bucks to Uber so why even bother?" said Matthew Zebracki, a football fan who chose to take an Uber ride home following the Super Bowl.