Final reports indicate that an unofficial total of 35 people lost their lives in accidents or violence over the New Year’s weekend. Reports carried in Diario Libre say that the National Emergency Commission (CNE) reported 35 deaths and 462 injuries over the weekend. The sad breakdown of the deaths revealed 32 traffic fatalities, and three due to alcohol poisoning. There were also 26 victims of “stray bullets” – as a result of people discharging weapons into the air -and four of these victims perished. In one case, the chief of Police, Bernardo Santana Paez, happened upon two of his officers firing their weapons in the air. Both were arrested and later dismissed from the force, according to El Caribe. The police chief was visiting different police stations around the city over the weekend. According to Hoy, the city’s public hospitals were “overrun” with emergency cases resulting from traffic accidents, firearms, knives, drunkenness, stones, fistfights and fireworks.