Sammamish Sees an Increase in Teen DUI

As many as 1,000 concerned Sammamish, WA parents gathered on Monday night for a community meeting to discuss why their teenagers are so troubled. Two big issues set the meeting in motion. The first is the alarming teenage suicide rate in Sammamish, and the second is high number of kids who are drinking or drugging and then getting behind the wheel of a car. Local police first spotted the DUI trend and say it has stayed consistent for years. There’s concern the area’s affluence may be part of the problem, mixing busy parents and children with too much disposable income and spare time. There’s also the high suicide rate, which seems out of line for a city the size of Sammamish. “We’ve just had this rash of teen suicides in our community. We’ve had four in this community in this last year,” said pastor Jeff Lancicome. Lancicome said the trends are headed in a direction the community doesn’t want to go, and he’s organizing a Monday night meeting for parents to get to the heart of the problems and find solutions. Police are doing what they can, including a recent sting that caught seven stores selling alcohol to minors. Safeway racked up its first offense, but Rite Aid and a local restaurant recorded their second citations in as many years,. Getting a DUI has never been more serious. Now more than ever it is imperative that a person charged with DUI in Washington State retain a qualified Seattle DUI attorney or a qualified Bellevue DUI lawyer in order to best minimize potential legal consequences and protect their rights and interests. The Seattle criminal attorneys that make up the criminal defense team of SQ Attorneys are highly qualified Seattle DUI lawyers that are dedicated to providing top notch, aggressive representation for those charged with DUI in Western Washington. The team creates success by working with law enforcement and the prosecuting attorney’s office to ensure that all facts and circumstances related to the DUI allegations are considered in creating the fairest, most equitable and just resolution possible.