AUSTIN – 216 people were arrested on DWI charges during the two-week ‘No Refusal’ initiative that included Labor Day weekend, police said Wednesday.
APD said the initiative, which ran 24/7 between 10 p.m. Aug. 18 and 5 a.m. Sept. 5, included 97 blood search warrants. Eighty-five of those arrests consented to provide a breath sample and 34 others consented to giving a blood sample.
Police said 78 of the arrests had enhanced charges. Sixteen suspects are facing felonies: One DWI suspect allegedly had a child passenger and police said 15 suspects had two or more prior convictions. The other 62 were misdemeanors, with suspects either having a breath sample over .15 or a prior conviction.
In 2016, police said they arrested 196 DWI suspects during a No Refusal initiative that only ran 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. each day, and 22 others outside the initiative hours.
