On the way home, “Bambam” is pulled over for a minor traffic violation and the officer discovers that “Barney” is over the legal limit.

There are obvious moral and ethical issues here that could be argued for days, but what are the legal ramifications.

Could “Barney” be cited for drunk driving? Could “Bambam” be cited for some violation of the provisional permit?

After only 2 beers, I was finding it hard to keep my eyes open, and struggling not to fall asleep in my chair.

I attribute this to two separate issues.

Firstly I had, had an awful night’s sleep the previous night which culminated with my wife waking up with stomach pain at 4.30 am. I didn’t get back to sleep after that.

Secondly, I had been riding my bike for over 2 hours without ever topping up my carbohydrate stores. It would be reasonable to assume that my endogenous carbohydrate stores would have been depleted, and my blood glucose levels low. No doubt the intake of a couple of pints would have caused an insulin surge, which, once ceased, would have led to feelings of fatigue.

Funnily enough this happens to me every Friday night. I cycle home from work, and when I get home, I treat myself to a ‘Graze’ box which contain snacks full of natural sugars. An hour later my wife comes home to find me out for the count on the settee.

I left the pub (of my own accord) and started walking home, when I was challenged by a PC for appearing drunk. I told him, I wasn’t drunk, but tired, and that I lived a 10 minute walk away and wanted to go home and go to bed. I then started to walk off.

As I walked off the policeman shouted me back telling me not to walk off while he was talking to me. I turned round and calmly stated (didn’t raise my voice, swear or gesture) I had not broken any law and therefore he had no reason to be talking to me. Again I started to walk away and was shouted back. He said (aggressively) that he was in charge of the conversation and would decide when it was over. My response to this was that a conversation involves 2 people being involved in mutually consentual dialogue and that by definition nobody is in charge. I told him that the sort of dialogue he was referring to was an interview and, if an interview is what he wanted he would have to arrest me … but as he had nothing to arrest me for the discussion was over and I would be now be walking home. I should stress that during this time I never once swore, raised my voice or gesured aggressively.

As I turned to walk away he cuffed me and told me I was arrested. I asked what for and he replied ‘drunk and disorderly’.

On arrival at the police station I told them I was not drunk and would like to produce a sample of breath, blood or urine to prove it. This request was denied. Subsequently I asked for a container so that I could produce my own sample for independant analysis … in order that I could defend myself in court. This again, was denied.

I’ve made an official complaint to the police whose reply was that they don’t need a sample as it’s been passed by the courts that police officers are experts in subjectively judging the sobriety of an individual.

I find this incredulous. Why, if this is the case, do they need a sample to prove drink driving? What is the difference?

I was kept in the cell for 11 hours and despite requests, was not afforded an interview to put across my argument. When finally released, I was charged with drunk and disorderly. The reason as provided on the charge sheet was ‘when approached by a police officer, the offender became abusive’. I was not given a fixed penalty, instead I have to go to court in 2 weeks.

I’ve not yet spoken to a lawyer but from the research I have done on the internet, it seems that unless CCTV evidence is available (unlikely) … it will be my word against his and the magistrates will more than likely side with the police.
Just a comment on the first two answers here .. I really agree that I should get a solicitor .. unfortunately the cost might be too excessive.
Quizzard you couldn’t be more mistaken.

Belligerent suggestes that I was being aggressive/hostile. In actual fact all I tried to do was continuously walk away from a ‘hostile’ situation.

And also, surely the people I was out cycling with could testify that I had only had two drinks (not to mention the pub landlord)?
In the UK, Lisa.

I asked to speak to the duty solicitor at 6pm when I was locked up. I was allowed to speak to one, by phone, at 2am.

It’s not mandatory for them to conduct any test. Apparently it’s common law that police are experts in determing whether or not someone is drunk. That is evidence enough. In my opinion this fact is appalling, and leaves many ‘laws’ open to abuse.

The second guy said, ”Man that was nothing I was so drunk last night I was driving home and I got a DWI.”

The third guy says, “Man that was nothing. I was so drunk last night I was driving home and I picked up a prostitute and my wife caught us in bed.”

Then the first guy said, ”No — you guys don’t understand! Chunks is my dog!”

The second guy said, ”Man that was nothing I was so drunk last night I was driving home and I got my DWI.”

The third guy says, “Man that was nothing. I was so drunk last night I was driving home and I picked up a prostitute and my wife caught us in bed.”

Then the first guy said, ”No — you guys don’t understand! Chunks is my dog!”

Later, the judge got home and found his wife asleep, he quietly took off all his clothes and contemplated what he would tell his wife in the morning and how he would explain the car damage.

Next day, the first thing he said to his wife, “I’m so sorry I was late last night honey, but you wouldn’t believe what happened, this drunk driver hit me head on and then sped off without stopping, and I had to talk to the police for several hours.”

After assuring his wife that he was not injured, the judge headed off to work.
Later that evening, the judge came home and decided he would alleviate the mood.

“Honey, you’ll never believe this,” he said, “The guy who did a drunk hit and run on me last night showed up in my courtroom and I gave him five years hard prison time.”

“You should have given him ten,” his wife replied, “I did the laundry today and apparently he puked on your shirt and pooped in your underwear too.”

After some big problems eg. driving drunk with our son and passing out when she was supposed to be watching him, I was at the end of my rope. I had a professional intervention done and put her into rehab for her health and for how she was behaving with our son and how she was treating me.

She was in rehab for 30 days and got out 2 weeks ago. The day before she got out of rehab she told me she had had sex in the parking lot with 2 different coworkers on 3 separate occasions over a 3 week period in March. One she had sex with once and the other twice right after she got off work for the night. My wife that I knew prior to alcohol would have never done such a thing. She told me this before getting out of rehab because she said the alcohol made her a monster and she wanted me to know so I could move on or forgive her and start anew life with her sober. She swears she will never drink again as it makes her a monster. She says if it was not for being an alcoholic that she would not have been in the state of mind of wanting to do anything to make herself feel better about herself. She says she would not like a person or think very highly of them if they behaved as she had…she swears she is not that person. In the last two weeks she has signed a post nuptial agreement in which she gets nothing if we get divorced…I get everything we acquire in the future including the house, cars and savings that we have now. She is trying to prove to me that she will never do such a thing again. She knows I am loyal and would never hurt her as she has done to me so she trusts me not to leave her and use the post nup unless she does something in the future to deserve it. She has returned to being a sweet caring wife but this could be because of guilt. Can alcohol really make a person a monster like this even when not drunk?

The reason I want a case is because they had babies in the car. I do not want an irresponsible parent driving drunk with their babies in the car, but even if I take him to court and get them away from him, I will still be out of money to the lawyer. Would it be possible to win the case and get enough money to pay a lawyer and maybe help get another car?
I actually have experienced the whiplash symptoms and soreness. Also my friends are urging me to go to the doctor. I seem to have a depth perception issue.. I keep falling while trying to sit down on chairs and sometimes fall when just walking. I do remember a guitar amplifier hitting me in the head during the wreck, but I don’t think I had any swollen areas on my head or anything, could this be a problem from the accident?

I just don’t have the money to go to the doctor, I was moving back to my hometown since I lost my job and all my belongings were in my car when he hit me. Luckily my computer was not damaged.

If you would allow him to call for a ride, then whats the difference between Obama, and your family, friends, your wife’s father, your wife’s father’s mother, your wife’s father’s mothers friend, your wife’s father’s mothers friends father, your wife’s father’s mothers friends fathers daughter, your wife’s father’s mothers friends fathers daughters pet rat?

Does this mean that if conservatives ran the country we would have a whole bunch of people driving around under the influence?

RAMBLE RAMBLE RAMBLE
Exactly Dan!

Why would he try to slander a dead man?

“Let me tell you a little story,” The newspaper quoted Biden as saying. “I got elected when I was 29, and I got elected November the 7th. And on Dec. 18 of that year, my wife and three kids were Christmas shopping for a Christmas tree. A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly, and killed my daughter instantly, and hospitalized my two sons, with what were thought to be at the time permanent, fundamental injuries.”

http://delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080904/NEWS02/809040379

“Alcohol didn’t play a role in the 1972 crash, investigators found. But as recently as last week, the syndicated TV show Inside Edition aired a clip from 2001 of Biden describing the accident to an audience at the University of Delaware and saying the truck driver “stopped to drink instead of drive.”

The senator’s statements don’t jibe with news and law enforcement reports from the time, which cleared driver Curtis C. Dunn, who died in 1999, of wrongdoing.”

“The rumor about alcohol being involved by either party, especially the truck driver, is incorrect,” said Jerome O. Herlihy, a Delaware Superior Court judge who was chief deputy attorney general and worked with crash investigators in 1972.

“If it were some part of a cause of the accident, there would have been a charge, simply because if you’re driving under the influence and kill someone in the process — whether it’s the wife of a U.S. senator or anybody else — there’s going to be a charge,” he said.

And look at lovely ol’ Biden’s camp had to say when Dunn’s daughter became distraught over her deceased father being maligned:
To see it coming from [Biden's] mouth, I just burst into tears,” Dunn’s daughter, Glasgow resident Pamela Hamill, 44, said Wednesday. “My dad was always there for us. Now we feel like we should be there for him because he’s not here to defend himself.”

Biden spokesman David Wade said Wednesday that the senator “fully accepts the Dunn family’s word that these rumors were false.”

ME: apparently you do not.

Alvarado-Barojas had a blood alcohol level of at least .393, about five times the legal limit, when he ran a red light on Hampden Avenue and hit Barben on the morning of September 14, 2009.

Paul A. Barben, Barbara Barben’s widower, said there would be no forgiveness.

“My grandchildren have had their grandmother taken from them. My sons had their mother taken from them,” Barben said. “And I lost my best friend.”

“The vision that I go through daily is knowing that my wife’s last moments on Earth were spent in anguish and in the indignity of being ground into the gutter by Mr. Barojas,” Barben said.

Christopher Barben, the victim’s son, called Alvarado-Barojas “an uninvited guest in my country” who “seems to have a flagrant disregard for the law.”

Another one of Barbara Barben’s sons told the judge that Alvarado-Barojas is a “thief.”

“He stole the soul of my family,” Paul Barben said. “He also stole a plethora of memories not yet made, memories that will never be made.”

Barojas, through his attorney, asked for a sentence of probation and spoke briefly through an interpreter.

“This was an accident,” Alvarado-Barojas said, directing his comments at the Barben family. “I ask for your pardon.”

Judge Shelley Gilman said Alvarado-Barojas was not taking responsibility for his actions. She noted that he had the highest blood alcohol level she’d seen in her 12 years on the bench.

A 9Wants To Know investigation reveals a warrant for Alvarado-Barojas’ arrest on a previous DUI charge was prematurely dismissed, eliminating an opportunity for authorities to arrest and potentially deport him a year before the crash that killed Barben.

The 18th Judicial District, Colorado’s largest by population, including Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert and Lincoln Counties, accidentally purged hundreds of unresolved misdemeanor cases years before they were due to be reviewed for dismissal.

In each case, a suspect had a warrant for failure to appear in court.

Alvarado-Barojas’ original case was dismissed and his warrant cancelled along with 1,109 similar cases in 2007.

9Wants To Know has determined one in four of those cases, 285 cases including Alvarado-Barojas’, were not eligible for dismissal under rules established by the 18th Judicial District and District Attorney Carol Chambers.

Denver Police recorded contact with Alvarado-Barojas in 2008. DPD spokesman Sonny Jackson said no information exists as to the nature of the contact, only that Alvarado-Barojas’ name did not bring up any active warrants and he was not cited or charged with a crime.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=133672&catid=339

Are illegals guilty of ripping families apart ? Violation of human rights ? Do all the rights illegal aliens, supporters , La Raza and Mexico demand apply to Americans as well when an illegal rips a family apart ?

My dad’s insurance:
30/60/25 Policy
$30k Underinsured Policy

Drunk driver’s insurance:
30/60/25 Policy

Assume the drunk driver’s estate has zero value.

Which parts of each policy can I make claim against?

If a court rules for a settlement larger than the insurance policy limits, and the drunk driver’s estate has zero value, will the insurance pay any of the amounts over the policy limits?

I’m in North Carolina

“Well,” says the cop, “it looks like you’ve had quite a few.”

“I did alright,” the drunk says with a smile.

“Did you know,” says the cop, standing straight and folding his arms, “that a few intersections back, your wife fell out of your car?”

“Oh, thank heavens,” sighs the drunk. “For a minute there, I thought I’d gone deaf.”

He was driving home on Memorial Day with his wife, Dawn and their son, when a car slammed into them.

He says he did not see the other driver, only a shadow, because he was attending to his injured wife.

Prosecutors say that driver was Jorge Dominguez. Dominguez is an illegal immigrant with a criminal record. According to a criminal complaint, he told investigators he’d had 8 drinks on the day of the crash and had taken cocaine recently.

Glogovsky’s testimony was part of a preliminary hearing to determine if enough evidence exists to send Dominguez to trial. Prosecutors have more witnesses to call so the hearing will be continued later this month.

“We were thrown into the ditch all the way on the other side and probably 20-30 feet into the ditch,” he told a judge. The crash killed Dawn and injured Frank and their son.

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/96512089.html

Your opinion illegal driving drunk & has criminal record family’s life is forever changed do our families count in this debate ?

Police in Charlotte arrested and charged Jovany Morales with driving while impaired and felony death by vehicle in 2004. Frank ‘Buddy’ Cline III was driving to work in Charlotte on Feb. 22, 2004 when police say Morales was drunk and drove across center, hitting and killing Cline III.

Morales, who Immigration Customs Enforcement officials say is an illegal immigrant, posted bond in 2004 but never appeared in court. Authorities hadn’t seen Morales until last week, when Charlotte-Mecklenburg County police arrested him on assault charges.
Morales appeared in Mecklenburg County court Thursday to face his 2004 charges and his bond was raised from $18,000 to $200,000.

Angela Cline, Frank Cline’s wife, appeared in court Thursday to face Morales for the first time since the accident happened.

“I would love to have five minutes with him, just to ask him how he felt about it.” Cline said.

The district attorney told the judge that Morales was a flight risk, that ICE officials had a hold on Morales and that if Morales posted bond, he would be deported. Cline said she had asked the judge to raise Morales’ bond so that she had a better chance of seeing justice for her husband’s death.

“I just told him we have waited for six years, that I had to raise my kids without a father now and that my little girl was never able to lay eyes on her father and just asked that him not to put us in a situation to have to wait six more years and take the chance of him bonding out and fleeing again.” Cline said.

The district attorney says Morales had assumed the alias Carlos Lopez Estrada when officers arrested him last week.http://www.myfox8.com/news/wghp-dwi-suspect-bond-raised-100610,0,2157009.story

I recently learned that my EX-wife was caught driving drunk with my kids in the car. My Ex-wife and I don’t have the best of relationships, shes always trying to find ways to hold the children from me so I can’t visit them. The latest reason they can’t come over and visit is because my oldest son (10) has been doing bad in school and not doing his home work. She told him that he wouldn’t be able to come over to my house until he gets better grades in school and does his home work..
The last time she with held the kids I owned her a few months back child support. The time before that she didn’t like my new girl friend. The time before that I was living alone and she didn’t like me having a babysitter for them,, and the list going on.. I’m feeling like my kids are a pawn in the little games she likes to play.

The recent DWI scares me,, I learned through a friend that she got the Felony DWI with my kids in the car, she was with her boy friend and he also has been convected of multiple DUIs and doesn’t have a drivers license.
Why wasn’t I informed about this, I don’t even know how my kids were turned home or with who. My ex-wifes boyfriend does not have any custody rights to my children. I’m in awe that this has happened and I can’t find any answers to my questions.
I’ve been thinking about taking her back to court for not letting me see the kids but it’s so expensive I just can’t afford it… So she keeps getting away with it and holds it over my and my kids head that she can refuse me to see the kids when I know she can’t.
Does anyone have any answers that relate to my situation??

Mike R
I love my kids and have two girls other than my two boys that are with me. I love my children, and is why I’m even asking this tough question.
lillllbi.
I already tried CPS when I found out they were both using METH,, CPS went to their house and didn’t do anything,, In fact they came back on me and we were all drug tested for six months,, They cleaned up their act once that happened, and once again when she found out I called CPS she refused me to see the kids again!
I have to think this though clearly. I don’t want any other problems with her. I’d rather just show up in court some how and tell the story.
I’m sure my oldest son could talk for himself,, he’s (10) and my youngest is (7). They both say they’d rather live with me..

Australia:
The names of the drivers are sent to the local newspapers and are printed under the heading “He’s Drunk and in Jail”.
——————————————————————————–
Malaysia:
The Driver is jailed and if married, his wife is jailed too.
——————————————————————————–
South Africa
A 10 year prison sentence and the equivalent of a $10,000.00 fine
——————————————————————————–
Turkey
Drunk drivers are taken 20 miles outside of town by police and are forced to walk back under escort
——————————————————————————–
Norway
Three weeks in jail at hard labor, one year loss of license. Second offense within five years, license revoked for life.
——————————————————————————–
Finland & Sweden
Automatic jail for one year of hard labor
——————————————————————————–
Costa Rica
Police remove plates fron car
——————————————————————————–
Russia
License revoked for life
——————————————————————————–
England
One year suspension and a $250.00 fine and jail for one year
——————————————————————————–
France
Three year loss of license, one year in jail and a $1000.00 fine
——————————————————————————–
Poland
Jail, fine and forced to attend political lectures
——————————————————————————–
Bulgaria
A second conviction results in execution
——————————————————————————–
El Salvador
Your first offense is your last—execution by firing squad
I bet they don’t get alot of dui’s in any of these countries!
I’m not saying that the US doesn’t take drunk driving seriously. I just wanted to hear people’s opinions on what other countries do. I don’t agree with them personally…
It was a handout I received at a drug/alcohol class I attended.

I grew up the son of a mother (a former high school cheerleader and honor graduate) who was an alcoholic and substance abuser. As a child I saw my beloved mother self-destruct and torment my grandparents as a result of alcoholism and using every drug imaginable. Ironically, my mother (a former drunk driver herself) was killed when crossing the road as a pedestrian when an 18 year-old drunk driver hit her – killing her on impact.

Dead on arrival, police awaited the return of the young drunk driver who left the scene of the accident. Upon returning, the police video (which I later painfully watched) showed the young man crying and screaming, “I can’t live with this on my mind!”

As a former lifeguard and fitness trainer I don’t drink alcohol to this day. Yet I don’t condemn those who do and kindly serve as the designated driver whenever anybody close to me drinks.

After a childhood of pain and hell as a result of substance abuse and drunk driving, I myself was hit and nearly killed in July 2008 by a drunk driver (a two-time DUI offender driving after her license was revoked). The 61 year-old lady barreling down the road in a large Chevy truck, driving drunk at 4:40PM on a Tuesday afternoon, hit my car repeatedly (completely totaling it and nearly killing me) without stopping, attempting to flee the scene of the accident, after which she hit and totaled a parked car before being arrested by police.

For nearly five months I drove numerous rental cars, while battling my insurance company to be financially compensated to purchase a replacement vehicle for my automobile totaled by the negligible drunk driver. Even worse I spent days and nights in hospitals and doctors’ offices receiving medical treatment after the accident for injuries, which still cause me pain and trouble to this day. The added stress and strain medically and financially also negatively affected my marriage, as logistically my wife and I shared the one vehicle the drunk driver totaled.

Personally encountering the crooked and fraudulent business practices of tow truck companies, medical professionals, insurance claims adjusters, and car salesmen added additional aggravation and suffering to my life at a time when I was most vulnerable.

Nevertheless I somehow persevered and battled through it all to stand tall, becoming a voice of conscience to substance abusers, drunk drivers, they who prey on victims of catastrophic accidents, and those suffering through seasons of tragedy turning their world upside down.

I guess God spared my life so I can speak to others.

‘Oh, no… Now my wife will kill me!’

Bob says, ‘Don’t worry, pal. Just tuck a twenty in your breast pocket and

Tell your wife that someone threw up on you and gave you twenty dollars

for the dry cleaning bill.’

So they stay for another couple of hours and get even drunker.

Eventually Don stumbles home and his wife starts to give him a bad time. ‘You

Reek of alcohol and you’ve puked all over yourself! My God, you’re disgusting!’

Speaking very carefully so as not to slur his words, Don says, ‘Nowainaminit, I

Can e’splain everythin. Itsh snot wha jew think. I only had a cupla drrrinks. But

Thiss other guy got ssick on me…he had one too many and he juss koudin hold hizz

liquor He said hes was verrry sorry an’ gave me twennie bucks for the cleaning bill!’

His wife looks in the breast pocket and says, ‘But this is forty bucks..’

‘Oh, yeah… I almos’ fergot, he shhhit in my pants, too.’