Police stop drunk driver on Halloween night

Red Hook Police report that a potential disaster was averted on Halloween night during the peak of activities with hundreds of kids and their families out in the Red Hook community hitting the streets in hopes of filling trick or treat bags full of goodies.

Red Police were notified by Dutchess County 911 that they received a call from a community member advising that a truck was driving around on the Father Caroll Baseball Field causing damage to the property. Red Hook Police bike patrol officers working the Village of Red Hook Halloween safety patrol and other Red Hook police officers working a Town of Red Hook patrol quickly converged on the area located at the Town/Village border and observed a 1995 Ford pick-up truck attempting to clear itself from the soft mud of the field just off of West Market Street address across the street from the Red Hook High School.

The vehicle was stopped by the responding officers before the lone motorist was able to leave the public field area and enter into the heart of the Village of Red Hook streets. Upon investigation by the responding Red Hook officers it was quickly determined that the operator of the vehicle was highly intoxicated as indicated by the fact that he could barely stand upright upon exiting his vehicle and the fact that the driver did not know where he was. He stated that he had been traveling from Maybrook, NY in Orange County and thought that he was currently in a parking area off of the New York State Thruway.

The operator of the vehicle was identified as 55 year old Jeffrey Dobens of Maybrook, NY. Mr. Dobens was subsequently charged with multiple counts of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), including the felony charge of Aggravated DWI when it was determined by chemical analysis that he was operating his vehicle at nearly three times the legal limit of intoxication in the State of New York. The legal level of intoxication in the State of New York is .08 of one per centum of alcohol in the blood and the aggravated DWI limit is .18%. The breath test performed by the defendant determined that he had .22% blood alcohol content. Mr. Dobens was additionally charged with Criminal Mischief for the damage that he caused to the Father Caroll Field with his vehicle.

Jeffrey Dobens was processed and released to a family member that responded from Maybrook. The defendant is schedule to appear in the Town of Red Hook Court on November 10th to be arraigned on the charges.

The Red Hook Police Department wishes to thank the community member for reporting the incident and the swift action of the Dutchess County 911 center personnel in getting the information out to our officers. There was a very high risk of danger to our Red Hook community created by the high level of impairment of the defendant and the very active pedestrian and vehicular traffic that existed at that time.

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