San Diego DUI Lawyer Blog

Mario Elie, assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings was arrested in Sacramento.

The California Highway Patrol used ten sentences to describe the situation of what happened and out of the ten sentences, three sentences described Elie’s professional career. Was this an arrest report or a dedication page? Elie was arrested on Thursday morning at 15th and Capitol. In one section of the arrest report, the CHP titled the section “Factual Circumstances Surrounding the Arrest” which they gave a sixty word synopsis about Elie’s career. The synopsis included Elie’s three NBA championships, the seven teams he played for listed individually as well as his job being assistant coach for the Kings.

Adrian Quintero of the California Highway Patrol defended that Elie’s detailed professional career is “releasable information and its public record” and that the public should be informed. Quintero stated that “He’s [Elie] a high profile individual in the community. So, we want people to be aware that no matter who you are –if you are driving impaired –you’re gonna get arrested.” Mark Pineda disagrees. He feels that if Elie was just a regular guy, the information in the report would not have been relevant to the arrest.

The California Highway Patrol argues that Elie is receiving special treatment just because of his status. Quintero explained that “He [Elie] was not “being treated any differently from any other individual.” John Lobertini of FOX40 shot back in disagreement stating that “You are treating him differently by listing who he is and what his career statistics are.” The argument between Quintero and Lobertini ended after Lobertini accused Quintero of treating Elie differently.

Did the CHP go too far with Kings Coach, FOX40 Sacramento, December 10, 2010

Web-Related Resources:
California DMV: guide to DUI arrest

California DMV on driving drunk