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Law enforcement to ramp up drunk driving enforcement Jerusalem Township

The community in Jerusalem Township continues to mourn the loss of six people killed in two separate accidents.

JERUSALEM TOWNSHIP, OH (WTOL) - The community in Jerusalem Township continues to mourn the loss of six people killed in two separate accidents.

Sheriff's deputies say both of these accidents were caused by drunk driving.

Right now, law enforcement is cracking down on drunk driving to prevent any more deadly accidents due to drinking and driving. They have one
message: Please Don't Drink and Drive.

"The focus on these particular cases is that they both appear to be alcohol related which is completely avoidable," said Lt. Matt Luettke, Field Operations for the Lucas County Sheriff's Office.

Two avoidable crashes that took the lives of six people. Both locations now memorials.

The first was a single-vehicle crash that killed three young men.

The second was a suspected drunk driver hitting and killing three family members on their way home.

Now the sheriff's office is taking big steps to keep drunk drivers off of the road.

"We've had additional patrols out here during those hours especially at the times when these crashes took place midnight, one o clock, two o clock," Luettke said. "We've had extra patrols and the highway patrol also made their presence, the Ohio Highway Patrol."

"Next week we're planning on having increased patrols especially from 6 in the evening to 4 in the morning looking to hit both work traffic and then that later evening traffic," said Lt. Shaun Robinson of Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Law enforcement says it's even more important to drive the message home - not to drink and drive - as we go into prom and graduation season.

"We tend to ramp up our enforcement of OVI and other traffic offenses because not only do we have a lot of people going from different graduation parties," Luettke said. "We also add inexperienced drivers into the mix when the combination of those two things can definitely lead to tragedy."

Lucas County Deputies say they will carry out an OVI check point toward the end of April.

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