Repeat DUI offender arrested for 8th time in San Mateo County

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) -- South San Francisco Police arrested a man for driving drunk, who has seven prior DUI convictions.

On Monday at 10 am, 43-year-old Orlando Barrios DeLeon of Daly City, was pulled over on Hillside Blvd. and Holly Ave. in South San Francisco for driving more than 60 miles per hour in a 40 zone, with a suspended license.

Police say he had an open container of beer in his car.

"The rules against drunk drivers mean nothing to him and he's endangering you, me and every citizen on the road," said San Mateo County District Attorney, Steve Wagstaffe, who is familiar with DeLeon.

Wagstaffe is prosecuting DeLeon for a felony DUI case, stemming from another traffic stop in February. He says DeLeon posted $100,000 bail to get out of jail after the February incident.

"His blood alcohol level was .27," said Wagstaffe of the February DUI. The legal limit is over .08% BAC.

Wagstaffe says that fortunately, DeLeon has not hurt anyone as a result of his many drunk driving incidents, but fears that could change.

"If something doesn't change, he will harm somebody, he will kill somebody."

"We know that license suspension does not work, evidenced by today and the man that killed my son," said Mary Klotzbach, whose son was killed by a repeat DUI offender in 2001 in Santa Clara County.

Soon after, Klotzbach and her husband started the Bay Area chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Now she is working on a bill with State Senator Jerry Hill of San Mateo County, to require ignition interlock devices for first time DUI offenders, in lieu of the current six-month driver's license suspension.

"We can't put all the people in jail, but we can give them a lock on their car so it physically cannot start," explained Klotzbach of IID's. "I want them not to drive impaired."

Wagstaffe agrees that laws need to change in order to keep repeat DUI offenders off the roads. In the meantime, all he says he can do about DeLeon, is to ask the judge this week for a high bail amount to keep him in jail and off Bay Area roads.