Patrol makes 2,178 holiday weekend arrests

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- If you were driving through Missouri over the Memorial Day weekend and thought you saw a lot of state troopers, you were right. As part of a special enforcement operation, the highway patrol placed troopers at 10-mile intervals from noon to midnight Friday and Monday on interstates 44, 70, 29 and 55, and on portions of U.S. 60, 61 and 65. The result was 2,178 arrests and 2,375 warnings. Speeding was the most common violation, with 1,271 arrests. Child restraint violations resulted in 320 citations. There were also nine arrests for felonies and 11 for driving while intoxicated. The patrol's superintendent, Col. James Keathley, said there were no fatal accidents in the special enforcement areas. Overall, the state saw seven fatalities during the Memorial Day weekend.