Cape Coral to continue DUI crackdowns

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – On Pine Island Road just west of Del Prado Boulevard you’ll find a small memorial dedicated to Joel Nichols. Nichols, 27, was killed by a hit-and-run driver in February while riding his bike home from work.

“A lot of our people drive Pine Island Road for work or to get home… and they see the spot so it’s really hard to forget, and we don’t want to forget,” Anthony Scalzullo told WINK News Monday.

Scalzullo owns Donanthony’s Pizza, where Nichols worked. He still keeps the prayer card from Nichols’ funeral hanging on the wall in the kitchen.

“He was a good kid, good worker. We think about him quite often,” said Scalzullo.

Timothy Turner was eventually arrested and charged for Nichols’ death. He told police he drank a pitcher of beer at Hustler’s on Santa Barbara Boulevard before the accident.

Thirteen people have died this year in traffic crashes in Cape Coral. Of those thirteen, eight were the result of impaired driving, three more than the previous year.

From June through September police conducted more than a dozen high visibility DUI enforcement operations made possible through state grant money. The operations netted 61 total arrests, 47 of which were DUIs. The state just awarded the city another $25,000 for more operations.

“Good. I’m all for it. I mean maybe we can cut down on loss of lives, innocent loss of lives,” said Scalzullo.

The police department will be able to use the money November 9, 2015-September 30, 2016.