INDIANAPOLIS — This month, Marion County law enforcement agencies are participating in the Driving Under the Influence Indiana project, which helps reduce impaired driving.
It's a partnership with IMPD, Speedway, Beech Grove, Cumberland, Airport, Indiana University and Indiana State Police.
In April, IMPD alone will be conducting two DUI checkpoints.
"It's for apprehension, which we do. We're pretty successful at that, but it's also for deterrence," said IMPD Lt. Michael DeHart.
Through Thursday, arrest records show 26 people in Marion County have been arrested for OWI.
"That number really doesn't surprise me. It seems high, but sadly, it's common," said DeHart. "The people that get caught drinking and driving really are the fortunate ones that don't create the accidents, because if you kill or seriously injure someone, you're in so much trouble."
Sunday, Anthony Edwards is suspected of driving drunk, blowing a red light at 10th Street and Arlington Avenue, hitting another car and killing two people inside. The victims are Angelina Chavez and Adan Valencia.
"It was kind of like, 'What?' Very unreal," said Valencia's coworker at GSF, Paola Montes. She and others couldn't believe their friend of 12 years was gone.
"The person that decided to get in that vehicle clearly didn’t think," said Montes. "Wasn’t thinking about his life, wasn’t thinking about the lives he might take and he didn’t just take the lives of those two people, Adan and his wife, but he did take parents from children."
Alcohol isn't the only thing impairing Marion County drivers. Police say they're seeing more and more people under the influence of prescription pills and marijuana.
"I would say it's definitely on the rise, especially marijuana, definitely on the rise," said DeHart. "What we've seen is more during the day to early evening hours is more drug-related things."
Police say before you go out to drink, make sure you have a plan on how to get around and get home safely.
If you would like to help with funeral costs for Chavez and Valencia's funerals, the family has set up a GoFundMe page.