Crimes, DUIs: Labor Day weekend average

Although general public opinion is that crime increases on holiday weekends, by most accounts the Labor Day weekend was a slow one in the world of crime.

“Nothing of significance happened,” Placerville Police Capt. Mike Scott said.

Lt. Tim Becker of the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office echoed the sentiment. Leafing through reports from the weekend, he said, “It doesn’t look that terribly busy.” He noted there were about 30 calls for service that had been approved by the computer, a fairly average number.

“Vandalism, civil disputes, domestic arguments,” Becker listed off. “Pretty much the normal stuff from what it looks like. Nothing major.” He had also checked with Sgt. Jim Byers, who had worked over the weekend, who again said it was a fairly normal weekend.

Becker did note, however, that there were two incidents in South Lake Tahoe of interest.

The first involved the Aug. 31 arrest of marijuana dispensary owner Gennaro “Gino” DiMatteo, who was arrested on suspicion of bribing a public official and possession of a controlled substance for sale, a press release from the District Attorney’s Office announced. Search warrants had been executed on DiMatteo’s home, business and bank.

On the lake itself, a collision of personal watercraft at about 9:45 a.m. Monday led to multiple injuries, as reported by the Tahoe Tribune. Sufian Kazmi, 45, and his wife, Subia, of San Jose, had rented the watercraft out of Timbercove Marina with their young children. None had previous experience with watercraft.

A half-hour into the activities, Sufian’s craft struck Subia’s craft broadside, both going about 30 mph. Each parent had one child as a passenger. Their 7-year-old daughter was flown to Reno for medical assistance on non-life threatening severe foot and leg injuries, while both Subia and the couple’s 5-year-old son suffered moderate head and leg injuries and were transported to Barton Memorial Hospital. Sufian was relatively uninjured. All were wearing life jackets.

The roads also fell within normal numbers, said CHP Officer Dan Stark.

“We haven’t had anything spectacular or out of the ordinary,” he said.

There were three crashes on Sept. 1, another three on Sept. 2, and a surge to seven crashes on Labor Day. But, he said, that number is still fairly normal. The previous Monday had a single crash, Aug. 20 saw four crashes, and Aug. 13 saw eight crashes. Three of the Labor Day crashes were a result of DUI, while, for comparison, only one of the crashes on Aug. 13 was from DUI.

The unofficial numbers for DUI arrests for the weekend were two arrests on Saturday, six arrests on Sunday and another six on Labor Day. The previous Monday saw three, Aug. 20 had four DUI arrests and Aug. 13 had a single DUI arrest.

“There’s no real discernible pattern,” Stark said. “The numbers don’t fall outside of the norm.” The only part he said was interesting was increased traffic, “which anyone on the 50 corridor coming down from the mountains could see.”

Cole Mayer

Cole Mayer started writing for the Mountain Democrat in early 2012. He has written news, features and opinions in the past, and currently works the crime, court and fire beat.

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