Articles Posted in DUI/DWI

News out of the North Carolina Department of Transportation indicates that the state’s two most populous counties placed first and second in terms of arrests and citations during the state’s massive “Booze It & Loose It” campaign which took place over the Labor Day holiday.

The state’s Transportation Secretary, Gene Conti, announced that a whopping 2,745 DWI arrests were made during the campaign, which ran from August 17, 2012 through September 3, 2012. Beyond just DWI arrests, more than 94,000 traffic and criminal citations were issued during the same period of increased enforcement.

Wake County saw the most DWI arrests of anywhere else in the state, with 209. Mecklenburg County came in at number two, with 182 DWI-related arrests. There was a big drop to the third place county, Guilford, which had 106 arrests during the campaign. The results indicate that many drivers were choosing to drink and drive while at or near the beach, as three of the top 10 counties for DWI arrests are located on the coast of the state: Carteret, New Hanover, and Brunswick.

Wake County also recorded the most total traffic and criminal citations, with 9,316. Mecklenburg County again came in second place with 7,545. Wake County also led the list for speeding violations with 1,925 and Mecklenburg came in second with 1,520.

Transportation Secretary Conti said that the push by local law enforcement agencies did more than sweep up drunk drivers, it also led to the capture of some 2,000+ individuals across the state with outstanding warrants and resulted in the recovery of 135 stolen vehicles. This category of crime – stolen vehicles – was one where Mecklenburg County placed first in terms of arrests, with 41 such vehicles recovered during the campaign.

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The North Carolina Highway Patrol and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have come together to announce the start of another “Booze It & Lose It” campaign. The enforcement crackdown on drunk drivers began on August 17, 2012 and runs through the upcoming Labor Day weekend. The campaign will be enforced throughout the state of North Carolina over the busy holiday weekend.

Law enforcement officials say that substance-impaired driving contributes to nearly 30 percent of all North Carolina traffic fatalities and they aim to lower that number during this period of heavy enforcement. Numbers show that there were 10,228 alcohol-related fatalities across the country in 2010, the equivalent of one death every 51 minutes. During the same time period, more than two-thirds of drunk driving deaths (7,145 or 70 percent) involved drivers with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .15 or higher. Overall, the most frequently recorded BAC among drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes was .18 BAC.

The NHTSA has released a series of tips for those on North Carolina roadways over the weekend. Those out driving around should make sure to wear their seat belt as this will help reduce the chance of a deadly accident should you encounter a drunk driver. It’s also important to be smart when out driving around. Twice as many alcohol-related crashes occur over the weekend than during the week and four times as many happen at night.

To avoid potentially injuring someone by driving drunk, make sure to plan ahead. Designate a sober driver before going out and give that person your keys. Otherwise take a taxi or use mass transit. If it’s too late for that, you can consider spending the night rather than getting behind the wheel.

If you aren’t smart in avoiding drunk driving, the problems can multiply. Not only can drunk drivers be charged criminally for their actions, but they also open themselves up to potentially expensive civil actions for the damages they inflict on others. The cost of one bad decision can haunt you for a long time to come.

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According to a recent report in the Gaston Gazette, one unfortunate man from Gastonia received two visits, and two arrests, in the span of only one night. The report said that one Gastonia police officer ended up pulling over and arresting the same unlucky individual twice in 6.5 hours. The officer, J.C. Padgett, happened upon 27-year-old Kenneth Wayne Bradshaw on two different occasions while out on patrol one night.

Officer Padgett arrested Bradshaw the first time for drug possession and driving with a revoked license following a traffic accident. Bradshaw then posted bond of $2,500 and got out of the Gaston County Jail at 9:21 p.m. last Thursday.

At 11:51 p.m., Officer Padgett got word that there was another wreck where he was needed. He arrived at the scene and was shocked to find Bradshaw in the same pickup truck he had wrecked earlier that same evening. Bradshaw was again cited for drug possession and driving on a revoked license as well as two new charges, careless and reckless driving and DWI. Bradshaw wasn’t so lucky the second time around, and remains incarcerated on a $50,000 bond.

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As a general rule, it’s a good idea to refuse a breath test if you ever find yourself pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving. The reason is that the breath test results often form the crux of the state’s DUI case against you. A breath test that indicates a BAC greater than .08 makes a difficult case to defend that much harder. Some people think they can avoid this trap by purchasing pocket breathalyzers. These devices, ranging from $10 to $300, are advertised as means of allowing you to test yourself before driving home.

Recently, one news organization put one such Breathalyzer, the BACTrack S80, to the test. The $150 device is advertised as providing “professional accuracy at an affordable price.” The organization conducted a controlled experiment to determine just how accurately the device measured a person’s BAC. The test also served as a training exercise for officers to help them recognize signs of an impaired driver.

Four women and one man were served measured amounts of alcohol designed to bring their BAC close to the .08 legal limit. The participants self-assessed the amounts of alcohol served; guessing that they were given the equivalent of two or three drinks a piece. After each round of drinks, the participants were asked to blow into both the police breath test device and the BACTrack S80. Almost every time, the BACTrack S80 device had a lower number than the police authorized device. Overall, the BACTrack S80 consistently registered lower blood alcohol levels than police Breathalyzer device.

This difference was most pronounced after the first round of drinks, which could lead to a false sense of security. Believing that his BAC is lower than it really is, a person may choose to drink more than otherwise planned, causing him to be more intoxicated than he intended or believes himself to be. Or, given the false sense of security of having a low Breathalyzer number, he may decide to drive despite actually being impaired.

One of the officers who helped conduct the test stressed that the number itself was not important. The number is more of a proxy of impaired driving rather than proof of impaired driving. Officers look first for actions such as inability to maintain a driving lane as proof of intoxication. If a person is caught driving in a manner that indicates he’s impaired, he will get pulled over.

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Two teenagers were involved in a crash that killed one, a 17 year-old-girl, and injured another, the 16-year-old driver. The driver, Garrett Prince, has been charged with multiple counts in connection with the crash, including “felony death by motor vehicle, driving while impaired, provisional DUI, careless and reckless driving, having an open container of liquor, speeding and possession of marijuana.”

The officer who filed the crash report indicated that the vehicle was going in excess of 75 mph when the vehicle struck a tree. The passenger, Elizabethh Malloy, died as a result of the impact. Witnesses said the teens were at a party where alcohol was served to guests. Investigators are currently trying to figure out how and why alcohol was served and who was responsible for its presence at the party. Witnesses said that Prince had been drinking and smoking at the party. He was described as being severely intoxicated, but Elizabeth did not realize how impaired he was when she chose to jump into his Jeep.

It is a criminal offense to supply minors with alcohol. Investigators say that they will arrest anyone who is responsible for supplying the alcohol and drugs to these teenagers at the party. According to the law in North Carolina, those who supplied the teens with alcohol can face a significant criminal penalty. They face up to $1000 fine and could also be required to perform up to 150 hours of community service.

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Since the passage of North Carolina’s Laura’s Law in June by Governor Beverly Perdue, the courts have been tougher on drunk driving especially Hard Core Drunk Drivers (HCDD). The law is named for a North Carolina teenager who was killed by a drunk driver who had three prior DWI (Driving While Impaired) on his record. In the past, excessive offenders would be given an interlock device on their car which would force them to blow into a device before operating their vehicle. Research has found that with these interlock ignition devices, many of the offenders get a “blow fail” which means that at the time they were too drunk to operate the vehicle but still attempted to do it. The interlock ignition device is used for HCDD which are those offenders who are found to blow over a .15 BAC (.08 is the legal limit in NC).

North Carolina plans to follow the states of Tennessee, Delaware, Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska , North Dakota and South Dakota by introducing tougher sentencing for the HCDD with hopes of impacting their overall sobriety and broader alcohol abuse issue. Statistics show according to the Century Council, that in 2009, 70% of alcohol related traffic fatalities were caused by drivers who had a BAC level of .15 or higher and this statistic has remained the same for the past decade.

One device that is being proposed to help better address this HCDD population is an alcohol monitoring anklet. This device is called a SCRAMx and is manufactured by a company called Alcohol Monitoring Systems, Inc. The anklet would use a non-invasive transdermal analysis to monitor alcohol use and would report this back to the appropriate authorities. The immediate goal would be to lessen the number of drunk driving offenses and consequent accidents and fatalities by the HCDDs; however, the long term goal would be to assist these individuals with their broader alcohol abuse issues and help them on the road back to sobriety.

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Defending your Driving While Impaired charge with ingenuity means attacking the Intoxilyzer. The most effective way to attack the magic box is to hire your own attorney. The manufactures of the Intoxilyzer have a vested interest in selling the myth that they have created an instrument that never breaks down, never freezes up, and always produces a perfectly accurate reading. The reality is the intoxilyzer just like any computer has its problems.

The state will present the reading for the intoxilyzer by having the analyst who conducted the test testify. Typically an analyst is only qualified to testify about how the instrument is used to conduct the test. In other words he knows how to turn the instrument on, he knows how to enter the defendant’s name into the instrument using the keyboard, and he knows which button to push before asking to defendant to blow into the instrument. Despite their limited knowledge concerning the science behind the instrument, many analysts will testify about how the instrument works. This typically leads to disaster as the astute defense attorney will point out all the problems with the analyst’s testimony and entirely destroy the credibility of the state’s case with testimony from their own expert.

In North Carolina the Department of Health and Human Services has created regulations that lay out the foundation requirements for a breath test.These regulations state that every analyst must observe a defendant for 15 minutes before requesting that they submit to a test of their breath. The purpose of the observation period is to make sure the defendant does not eat or drink anything, vomit or burp in the fifteen minutes before a the test is requested. The observation period is typically a step in the process that many analysts virtually ignore. It is essential that an attorney defending a Driving While Impaired case request the video feed from the intoxilyzer room so that they will be able to see if the Officer requesting the test physically observed the defendant for fifteen minutes before the breath test.

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If you see blue lights come on behind your vehicle and it’s after midnight on about any day of the week, chances are the Officer stopping your vehicle is going to ask you if you have consumed any alcohol that evening. If he smells even the faintest odor of alcohol a Driving While Impaired investigation is almost certainly to follow. Hopefully after performing some routine field sobriety tests you will be allowed to get back in your vehicle and drive away, however, you may find yourself being placed in handcuffs and arrested.

The strongest piece of evidence for the state in the majority of Driving While Impaired cases is a sample of a person’s breath. Most individuals who are charged with Driving While Impaired submit to a sample of their breath on the intoxilzer because they think they think they will get bonus points in court by being “cooperative” and because when they are read their rights with respect to taking the test, they are informed that if they refuse to take the test their driver’s license will be revoked for one year. So if you blow a .08 or above on the breathalyzer, do you need to begin preparing for life after a DWI conviction or is there still hope?

The bottom line is the state’s case is certainly stronger with a reading than without one. However, a person who registers a .08 or above on the intoxilyzer is not automatically guilty of Driving While Impaired. In a recent decision the North Carolina Court of Appeals in State v. Narron held that a reading of .08 or above does not constitute a mandatory presumption of guilt for a person charged with Driving While Impaired. Rather, the reading on the Breathalyzer is simply reliable evidence to satisfy the State’s burden of proof as to this element of the offense of DWI.

Well you’re probably thinking if its reliable evidence isn’t that just as good as a presumption of guilt? The answer is of course “no”. Being a good criminal defense attorney means defending with ingenuity. If the Intoxilyzer is nothing more than “reliable” evidence, it can certainly be shown to be unreliable. The Intoxilyzer is not a magic box that always produces an accurate reading regarding a person’s breath alcohol content. If a prosecutor is allowed to submit a reading, without any rebuttal or any suggestion to the jury regarding the problems with breath testing or the problems with the Intoxilyzer, the fact finder will accept the reading as sufficient or “reliable” information as to a person’s alcohol concentration.

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