LuLu13

I don't know where you live but your assessment of the cops is so very wrong, at least in towns with any sort of crimes. I have a cop in the family and she hates DUI's as do her co-workers. A little bit of paperwork? Processing a dui for a successful conviction takes a good 3 to 5 hours. And, in most cases, it requires an appearance in court by the officer and the offender gets a slap on the wrist. As a matter of fact, she and her co-workers really only arrest someone if they are in an accident or falling down drunk. If someone is over the limit but pulled over for a minor traffic offense they throw them in the back of the squad and give them a ride home and have a friend or family member go get the car. I think it is a shame that it is so difficult for the police to process a dui, we need the drunks off the road.

caboblanco

im sure you are not kidding me but this is far from what happens around where I live. anybody who gets pulled over for a traffic violation and smells like alcohol will get a sobriety test unless they are a cop or some sort of vip

themselves. I got pulled over years ago for not making a complete stop at a stop sign..the cop gave me a field sobriety..a breathalyzer..the whole works. I blew a .01. I had to pay an attorney to get me out of a dwi I never

commited. i never hear of people getting rides home from cops anymore let alone having someone get the car instead of towing it and having you pay

AnvilheadII

there's a bit more to the story than JUST friends letting friends drive drunk. one of the boys WAS driving the car...they dropped off two friends, then drove to their own house, THEN turned the car over to the young lady and let her drive off. they HAD the keys and control of the vehicle. they could have called her parent, called a taxi, had her come in to their house or drove her home themselves. but instead they did LET her drive away in her condition. I think there is a degree of culpability there.

I remember once being so dang drunk, driving with friends, that I misnavigated a turn and managed to rather deftly land the car on the sidewalk between a chain link fence and a fire hydrant. thank god no one was on the sidewalk! boy did we laugh. when I got them to THEIR place, came in for a bit, pretty sure we had some more beers, they walked me to my car, started it for me, put on my seatbelt, made sure my foot was on the brake, reached over and put it in drive, and said see ya! thank god again I made it home in one piece.

do the boys deserve to be charged? not sure. could they have done some things different? most certainly.

LuLu13

Here all it takes is a good lawyer to get you off. Cops cannot rely on the breathalyzer for a conviction as the lawyer will question when it was last serviced and calibrated. The officer administering the test must be certified. If they want a conviction it takes a trip to the hospital for a blood draw and a cop has to, obviously, accompany the suspect. My brother has been arrested 4 times for DUI, twice at 9 AM after rear ending someone, and has never been convicted. If you refuse to blow it is impossible to convict but is an automatic 6 month suspension of your license which most prefer and habitual offenders know.

caboblanco

I believe you. but you have to understand that where I am from that is really hard to believe unless your brother had connections

cleaninLI

I think you are both correct. I grew up in a mid sized city in central IL and remember kids being dropped home by officers when they drove drunk. I now live in NYC and I can tell you drunk drivers are taken very seriously.

In fact, I remember as a teen, officers telling us to pour out open beer cans from our car and getting a warning. That's it! No arrest, not even a phone call to our parents. We had no connections with the police department.

caboblanco

to be fair im talking about people over 21 here..i have had buddies get decreased offenses when they were minors..even so in their early 20s i dont know why but they did

cleaninLI

Yes I agree. Age does make a difference. I'm just saying that different areas of the country (states) probably carry heavier penalties. I would assume that heavily populated areas would need to be more serious because more accidents occur and the denser the population the more risks involved. (More tragic accidents on busier roadways = more fatalities)

I could be wrong but that's my assumption.

Anyway this is probably off-topic.

LuLu13

Ha, the only connections my brother has are with the Outlaws Motorcycle "Club" and frequent contact with the police for domestic violence calls. We live in a very large, metropolitan area. Again, every good drunk knows not to blow when the portable is pulled out and lawyers are getting rich.

littlefish

People in the states are myopic, and have to think bigger. Much bigger. Americans automatically see the justice system as part of all this. It actually is not part of this in most countries outside of the states.

Here where I live if you are stopped for drunk driving the breathalyzer is your judge and jury on the spot. Over the limit, you are sent to jail for up to a month and your license is taken away for at least 6 months and often longer.

You cannot hire a lawyer to appeal your charge because there is no appeal procedure in the system for this kind of offense. The public overwhelmingly supports this treatment of drunk driving. And, because of massive amounts of public transportation...people don't feel the hardship of having no car.
Next time your city or state votes on public transportation, vote yes for it! Consider the drunk driving issue, it's connected!

Pamel

Hmmm. This discussion makes me wonder: What if the other kids had been sober? Theoretically, they should have been EVEN MORE at fault, since the crime here is letting a friend drive drunk.

caboblanco

lol Leave this to a European to change the issue at hand to..why are Americans so ignorant? never fails. I know the penalties in many European countries. Some are actually less then in the states.

LuLu13

One last thought, Caboblanco, in some states having cops sit outside a bar and wait for closing time is entrapment. It is here...

Seren

I believe this topic has been canvassed sufficiently, and after full review, some posts may be removed - under Rule 4.

Hopefully all this energy can be focused on greeting and helping a newcomer