DUI Attorney in Covina

Reviewed by Ron Chini, Esq. · CA State Bar No. 263308 · DUI defense attorney in Irvine, CA since 2009.
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Policing in Covina: its own department, not a sheriff contract

Covina is one of the smaller San Gabriel Valley cities that still runs its own municipal police force rather than contracting with the LA County Sheriff's Department. The Covina Police Department is headquartered at 444 N. Citrus Avenue, Covina, CA 91723 — non-emergency line (626) 384-5595, general information (626) 331-3391 — and its officers patrol the city's own grid: Citrus Avenue, Badillo Street, Grand Avenue, San Bernardino Road, and the historic downtown core clustered around Old Town Covina.

Freeway access is unusually thin for a city this size: only a short clip of Interstate 10 brushes Covina's southern edge, with Interstate 210 running along the north side, Interstate 605 to the west, and State Route 57 to the east — none of them actually cutting through the city's own 7.05 square miles. CHP's Baldwin Park Area office, 14039 Francisquito Avenue, Baldwin Park, CA 91706, (626) 517-8500, is the agency responsible for that I-10 segment and the wider freeway network across the eastern San Gabriel Valley (I-10, I-605, I-210, SR-60, SR-57, SR-71, SR-39). A DUI stop on that short I-10 stretch is typically a CHP matter; a stop almost anywhere else in Covina — on Citrus, Badillo, Grand, or around the AMC 30 at Arrow Highway and Azusa Avenue — is handled by a Covina PD officer.

• Covina maintains its own police department and does not contract with the LA County Sheriff — unlike several smaller neighboring San Gabriel Valley cities that do rely on a sheriff's contract station.
• Covina PD's station doubles as a short-term intake point; it is not where someone is held long-term after a DUI booking (see below).

Where a Covina DUI case is heard

A DUI arrest in Covina is most commonly heard at the West Covina Courthouse, 1427 West Covina Parkway, West Covina, CA 91790, since Covina sits immediately adjacent to West Covina and the surrounding East District cities. That said, this specific routing for Covina is the logical, expected answer rather than an independently confirmed one by city name — the one secondary source naming Covina as a West Covina Courthouse city elsewhere also names Covina for the separate El Monte Courthouse, so it contradicts itself and isn't a clean confirmation either way. Confirm the assigned courthouse from your citation, or by calling the court clerk, before assuming your case will land there.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office prosecutes misdemeanor and felony DUI cases out of the West Covina Courthouse, which is a full-service facility handling civil, criminal, small claims, traffic, and unlawful detainer matters (CV/CR/SC/TR/UD) and houses its own Criminal Clerk's Office, a branch of the DA's office, a Public Defender's office, and a dedicated Traffic Clerk's Office.

Booking and getting a car back after a Covina arrest

A Covina DUI arrest is booked first at the Covina Police Department, 444 N. Citrus Avenue. Like other small city-run jails in this county, that station is built for short-term intake rather than extended custody; depending on the arrest, you may be cited and released, released on your own recognizance, able to post bail, or transferred into the county system — men generally toward the Inmate Reception Center, Men's Central Jail, Twin Towers, or Pitchess Detention Center, and women toward the Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood. Call our office if a family member's exact location needs tracking down.

Your vehicle is handled separately from your arrest. Most DUI tows simply sit at a tow yard until you or someone you authorize pays the release, towing, and storage fees and picks it up. A mandatory 30-day impound under Vehicle Code §14602.6 is a narrower, harsher outcome reserved for drivers who were also unlicensed, suspended, or revoked, or on a restricted license without the required interlock — it is not triggered by a DUI arrest on its own. Ask us during your free consultation which rule actually applies to your stop.

From a citrus boom to Covina Bowl: a quick look at the city

Covina was founded in 1884 by Joseph Swift Phillips on land once part of the 1842 Rancho La Puente land grant, and incorporated on August 14, 1901. The name itself is local legend: surveyor Fred Eaton is credited with blending "cove" and "vine" into "Covina," a nod to the vineyards that covered the area before citrus took over. By 1907 the city's orange groves had made it, by its own claim, the third-largest orange-shipping point in the world — a boom era still visible in the Firehouse Jail Museum at the city's old 1911 municipal building, now a small historical archive downtown.

Covina's best-known modern landmark may be the Covina Bowl, a Googie-style bowling alley that opened in 1956 and is widely credited as the first of the large multi-use "bowling center" developments that spread across the country afterward; the lanes closed in 2017, but the building and its sign were preserved and folded into a newer townhome development. The AMC 30 theater at Arrow Highway and Azusa Avenue, opened in 1997, has been counted among the busiest movie theaters in the country, and Metrolink's San Bernardino Line still stops at the city's Covina station. Covina is also where animator Art Clokey created Gumby. As of the 2020 Census, Covina's population was 51,268 across 7.05 square miles — about 58.7% Hispanic or Latino, 19.6% White (non-Hispanic), and 14.8% Asian (non-Hispanic).

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Ron Chini, Esq.

DUI Defense Attorney · CA State Bar No. 263308

Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office, in English and Farsi — and works directly with you, not a call center.

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