Women Pushing Car Charged With DUI

[matcom]

<snip>

PORTAGE, Ind. --Two women who took turns steering a broken-down vehicle face drunk driving charges after their slow-moving car crashed into a parked car.

Kaylyn Kezy, 34, of Gary, was pushing the disabled car, while Melissa Fredenburg, 32, of Chesterton, steered from the passenger seat, police said. The two were moving the car into a parking lot at a nearby motel early Friday in the city about 10 miles east of Gary.

Police said both women had a blood-alcohol levels of 0.17 percent, more than twice the state's legal limit to drive.

Authorities said the women were operating the vehicle while intoxicated -- even though the car's engine wasn't working.

A prosecutor acknowledged the charges could be difficult to prosecute in court.

"The statute and case law supports (a DUI charge) ... but it will be interesting to see," said Deputy Prosecutor Adam Burroughs, who authorized the charges.

Burroughs said that the office had prosecuted drunken drivers who were stopped in restaurant drive-through lanes or who were on private property. Bicycles and motorized wheelchairs are about the only vehicles in which a person would be unlikely to face a drunken-driving charge, he said.

http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2005/07/26/women_pushing_car_charged_with_dui?mode=PF

[Missy M]

1. 0.17 percent is pretty intoxicated and were they driving the car...

before it broke down with those levels of alcohol in their system. If so it is very scary to have them on the road.

[hlthe2b]

2. Not surprised...

I remember Atlanta area cops (especially in Sandy Springs, Roswell, Buckhead) watching outside the bars for people walking home possibly drunk and would charge them with public intoxication (walking while drunk?) I guess it became quite a stink when they started getting lots of European tourists caught up in this, who failed breathalyzers but were not overtly acting intoxicated...

So, patrons (including a couple of my college friends) used to start ordering pizzas be delivered from a Dominos just down the street, giving their home as the delivery address, but flagging them down as they drove by the bar to hitch a ride home with their pizza-- for an extra big tip, I'd assume. Probably no longer works, but seemed novel..


I also remember several cases where people were charged with DUI, sitting (asleep) in a parked car in their own driveways. If you do this, don't fall asleep in the driver's seat and toss the keys!

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Got one better.

Northern New Jersey, rural town. Our firm had a client convicted of DUI and reckless driving while her truck was still in her driveway, engine off but keys in ignition, in park mode, with a police car blocking her access to the street in a perpendicular position, AND after the cops (who suspected she might be drunk) told her to get in her truck and follow them to the police station.

We lost on appeal, esp. on the entrapment argument (couldn't get the cops to admit they told her to get in the truck).

In reality, she was convicted of drunk parking. BTW, when they did the breathalyzer, the cops made her do it three times, changing the dials and gauges until it got to over .10.

[SouthernDem2004]

5. Er, there are no dials or gauges on an Intox machine. /nt

[no_hypocrisy]

7. I wasn't there. Client may have said knobs, but something was

fiddled with.

[SouthernDem2004]

8. Not those either...

I think your company's client was misleading the company. The old intox machines had a power button and a start button. That was it. The new ones have a power button, start button and a keyboard for data entry. The data entered is only personal data and stop information to print on the ticket generated.

There is no way to tamper with the machine. All the testing elements are self contained and are not accessible to the user. This is done so no one can tamper with the results. There is no way to change any readings at all.

The client was just DUI.

[SouthernDem2004]

9. On a side not, I never understand why people lie to their attorneys.

It makes little sense. All it does is cause the attorney problems during trial. Attorneys need to know all of the facts to have a chance in some cases.

[Shell Beau]

4. Well she did hit a parked car and technically she

was operating the vehicle. Just sayin'.

[SouthernDem2004]

6. You can be convicted of DUI on a bicycle in my state. :)