Tyrone Sanders, age 32, stands before Judge John Payne
For the second time this month Amherst police had to awaken a driver so they could arrest him for Driving Under the Influence.
On the one hand you would rather have a drunk asleep behind the wheel of a parked vehicle, but the problem of course is prior to pulling over and passing out, he was a scud missile.
In Eastern Hampshire District Court yesterday, after being arraigned before Judge John Payne, Mr. Sanders took the Commonwealth's offer of a Chapter 24D disposition, available only to first time offenders.
He will lose his license for 45 days, pay over $650 in fines/fees and be on probation (at $65/month) for the next year.
Not sure this guy should of made your wall of shame. Parked car. Not running. I get the law is in place to remove a loophole, but he wasn't endangering others when the arrest was made. Keys have to be in ignition to listen to music or run the ac. Good policing doesn't always fill the courts.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me in another state in a parking lot. I chose to sleep it off. Officer made a different call. If she didn't I am not sure I would be able to be employed in my job today.
And how did he get to that parking spot partially in the roadway? By driving. And with a blood alcohol level of .18 -- pretty damn impaired.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteYou don't know that he was .18 when he pulled off the road -- there is a delay between consumption and the ETOH being in the bloodstream. That's why ETOH can be a medical emergency, the BAC is still rising even though the person is no longer drinking and you are worried about it possibly getting to fatal levels.
How long does it take to go from .00 to .18 if one were, say, doing shots of Barcardi 151 -- I don't know but do know it won't be instantly. And it is theoretically possible that he pulled off he road when he realized his BAC was .06 or .07, which would be the responsible thing to do. Get him and the car out of there, absolutely. Arrest him, maybe -- charge him, no. Not with OUI. Someone responsible enough to pull off the road is not someone whom I am worried about running into me.
I must be missing something because a wrecked car clearly is not "capable of being set in motion" so, if he'd had a .18 BAC and wrapped his car around a tree, if the officer had been responding to a report of a MVA and found him in a wrecked car -- he couldn't have been charged with OUI? People routinely are.
So if he had wrecked his car but had the presence of mind to take the keys out of the ignition after airbag deployment, maybe toss them out the window -- and then exercise his 5th Amd rights -- he couldn't be convicted of OUI? If this were true, every drunk in the state would be doing it. Just like they now refuse breatalizers.
So that can't be true...
One other thing: 32 years old, first offense, pulled off the road instead of into a parking lot -- or driving another 10-15 minutes to where he was going?
ReplyDeleteMaybe he always parks in the middle of state highways -- most folk don't.
Hmmmm......