Everyone Can Get a Drunk Driving Indictment, Even You
As a Everett criminal lawyer, I am continually fast to point out to people that, different to prevalent belief, it is not unlawful to drink and drive. It is, nevertheless, prohibited to drive when you are too impaired by booze or meth intake to drive. That is when a driving under the influence charge occurs. But when is that line crossed? And how can you discern when you are too inebriated to drive? It is nearly an impossible determination to make (and I’d make a case that even the breath test doesn’t really demonstrate that you are too under the influence to drive, only that your alcohol concentration may be great enough to harm your driving), but something you should think about every moment you drink and then make your mind up to drive home.
For instance, let’s say you are away from home having a pair of beers following work with some acquaintances in Bellevue after work. You have a couple of drinks over a pair of hours - nothing ridiculous, not even a little negligent. Eventually you elect to go back home, and you reflect to yourself “I’m absolutely well to drive home.” On your way you pass through a standard Lynnwood crossroads - a four way stop. You have the green so you continue on your way. Then, BAM, a automobile broadsides you, running a red light.
As you gather yourself and make sure nothing is out of order and there is no blood anywhere, you begin to realize what just happened. And then you hear the sirens of law enforcement officers and ambulances. You get out of your van and wait for the law enforcement to appear. Once they arrive, you commence to converse to them, and one of the officer’s makes the declaration that sends chills down your spine, “have you had anything to drink tonight?” Yes, you inform the officer, but only a couple of cocktails over the course of a pair of hours. You feel perfectly sober right now.
But it’s too late. The cop has already jumped into cop mode, which repeatedly involves making split second decisions and then filling in the essentials to fit what he wants to see. Do you have watery bloodshot eyes? Is your face rosy (don’t worry about the fact that you’ve just been involved in a serious van accident - that is irrelevant)? Would you mind taking some field sobriety tests? And at that spot you are fighting for your own independence, notwithstanding the fact that someone else negligently ran the red light and hit you, as you followed, to a T, all traffic rules.
The moral to be learned here? In addition to knowing your rights as a citizen (which means in some states, like Washington, when that Lynnwood or Everett police cop asks you to take field sobriety tests you politely refuse and immediately ask to talk with a lawyer), appreciate that at any time events out of your power could have a great effect on your outlook moving forward. If you do decide to drink and drive, make sure you are not too impaired to function a van, be aware of your rights, and if you are ever in uncertainty, call a DUI attorney as quickly as you possibly can.