DUI

Given the normal standard of "one drink per hour" and 12 ounces of beer being considered a drink, you were straddling the borderline pretty hard. Why risk it?

 

mustang,

What you should do is go take one of those "machinery competency" tests when you are stone cold sober, then go take it after the scenario you've described. I bet you'd be pretty blown away by how much lower your score is after 2 beers.

But look, I can't stop you from drinking and driving. Maybe when you grow up and have a child you'll feel differently.

Or maybe Dick Whitman can have a word with you......

 

Why did you get pulled over in the first place?

 

I believe he said he was speeding. And mustang, what's so hard about just not drinking at all if you have to drive. Why even risk the 2-3 beers?

 

he was drunk

 

I was traveling 35 in a 25. Between where I turned on to the road and where I was pulled over there were no signs where the speed was posted. I was new to the area. And upon verification that I had just moved, the judge threw the speeding ticket out. I'm leaving this thread now. Do what you will, but I will not let this thread be "debacled" at my expense. Or at least with my involvement.

 

Don't leave just because everyone here is perfect.

 

Dick Whitman,

Remember this crappy feeling next time you've had several beers and think about driving.

Beyond that, find a good attorney. Think about how a DUI might affect your employment. You need to figure out a way to mitigate the damage already done.

 

Oggie - It's not even an issue. It will never happen again, though I understand that I have to prove that. Not in one day. Not even in one year. But over decades.

Someone on here mentioned being a police officer, or at least being on the "law enforcement side" of things.

I've thought a lot about what could be done to deter people from doing this, other than just throwing the book at people (one anti-drunk driving message board I found urged imprisonment for the first offense. I'm serious). I have to be careful with how I couch this, but I think it's important.

When I was in there the other night, the first officers were extremely professional. No emotion whatsoever. Straight forward. Told me what was going on.

After that began the parade of dicks. First guy started screaming at me to, "Quit telling your life story and get off the goddamned phone!" while I was trying to get bail money put together. When I looked him in the eye while he was screaming, which I thought you're supposed to do when listening to someone, he said, "Quit glaring at me right f#*#$*ing now!"

Then came lady cop. She asked if I had any priors. I told her not even a speeding ticket. She smiled and said to her fellow officer, "Oh, this should be fun" as she called me up on the computer. When I came up clean, she said, "Oh, shocking!"

After my bond was posted, no one told me until the morning. They said they were "too busy." I was scared shitless something happened to my wife on the way there.

Anyway ... the point is not that I deserved the royal treatment. But what concerns me is that behavior like that by law enforcement - taunting cooperative people - can give people an excuse to shift the anger and blame from themselves onto the police. As someone with a family, I don't want the lesson drunk drivers take away from an arrest to be, "Cops are sure assholes." I want it to be, "I messed up. I messed up bad."

Why give people a reason to let themselves off the hook?

 

Yeah, when I got mine, the cop got up in my face and yelled at me, even while he was driving. That and the spittle on my face was a nice touch.

 

Sorry, I didn't mean to read as snarky as it did.

My main point was to be smart and take care of yourself. That means finding good help to sort all the legal crap. And, also, to be a little self-protecting so that the penalties don't end up being tougher than they should be.