The operation, an official state DWI checkpoint, was led by sheriff's deputies at the intersection of U.S. 401 and Academy Road on Saturday night from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. with the assistance of Laurinburg police, the Highway Patrol and police from Wadesboro and Hamlet.
Lt. Tommy Butler, the sheriff's office Governor Highway Safety Program officer, said the office targeted McColl Road because of the night traffic leaving South Carolina.
The motorists have generated some complaints around the intersection, but also cause problems throughout Laurinburg as these same drivers often have left one of the five bars just south of the state line.
"We are just trying to show a strong presence down that way to see if we can curtail it a little bit," Butler said.
He said the location was also ideal for this kind of operation as officers had access to a large parking lot to set up equipment and also had a wrecker service that could easily tow impounded vehicles at the intersection.
Butler called the checkpoint a success.
"We got some drunks off the street and made several drug arrests," he said.
The officers charged three with driving while intoxicated and four with having an open container of alcohol in their vehicles.
Four were charged with marijuana possession, including two in the same vehicle.
Joshua Handsborough, 25, and Chad Pierre Handsborough, 24, both of Goldsboro, were each charged with simple possession of marijuana after a bag of marijuana was found in their 1994 Cadilac Seville., according to sheriff's report. Joshua Handsborough was also charged with open container for an open bottle of vodka. The charges were through citation and they were released at the scene.
Reports were not available for the other drug arrests.
Deputies also confiscated a gun from a South Carolina driver.
Marquetta Antonette McRae, 21, of Bennettsville, was charged by citation with carrying a concealed handgun, according to a report.
Butler was also glad that officers were also able to charge three with child restraint violations, a crime that ranks high on the lieutenant's pet peeves.
Butler recalled deputies stopping one car on Saturday where an infant was being hidden in the floor board of the vehicle to avoid getting a ticket for not using a child restraint.
This isn't the first time Butler has seen an adult try an hide an unrestrained child. At his last checkpoint, which was the previous Saturday, someone else was caught attempting the same stunt.
The deputy says he takes personal offense at these type of infractions as properly restraining a child in a safety seat reduces their chance of being seriously injured or killed in a car accident by 90 percent. Butler takes the issue so seriously that he plans to become state certified in child restraints so he can hold clinics.
Butler said other charges from the checkpoint were:
• Four were charged with driving while license revoked
• Three were charged with driving without a license
• Six were charged with driving without a seat belt
• Two were charged with expired registration
• Five were charged with other traffic violations
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