DWI chair up for sale...agian

DWI chair to be sold...one more time

Duluth, MN

If you never got a chance to place a bid on the infamous 'DWI chair,' you have another shot.

Proctor Police hope the third time's the charm, in their ongoing attempt to find a buyer for the motorized chair.

The chair was forfeited to authorities after a Proctor man drove it while drunk in 2008.

Authorities say the chair's former owner was three times over the legal limit when he crashed into a parked car.

Police say next week Oberfoell Auctioneers will pick the chair up, and officials say it is expected to appear online in the near future.

Two previous attempts to auction the chair off to the highest bidder failed after gaining national attention.

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Driver rearends patrol car, arrested for DUI

Driver who rear-ended marked patrol car is arrested for DUI

Springfield, IL

A 34-year-old Springfield man was arrested for alleged DUI and marijuana possession after rear-ending a Springfield police squad car outside Marly’s Pub, 9 Old State Capitol Plaza, early Saturday.

Jamaine M. Hardy, of the 500 block of West Miller Street, was driving a Dodge van south on Fifth Street behind Springfield Police officer Donald Rummans, 34, of Rochester, about 12:40 a.m.

Rummans, who was in uniform and driving a department Ford Crown Victoria, was southbound and stopped his car after reportedly seeing a fight on the sidewalk outside Marly’s Pub, a police report states. As he stopped the car and was getting out, his vehicle was rear-ended by Hardy’s van.

Springfield Police Officer Jeffrey Coker’s report states Hardy was “agitated and walking in the roadway” and “stated the car just stopped in front of him.”

“I asked the driver for his identification,” Coker’s report states. “The driver attempted to walk to the driver side door of his vehicle. Officer Rummans and I grabbed the driver by his coat and arms and escorted him away from his van.”

When Hardy refused to get inside Rummans’ squad car, he was “pushed into the squad car” by the officers, the report states.

Hardy was then arrested for alleged DUI and cited for failing to reduce speed in time to avoid a crash, police said. Officers later found a bag of marijuana inside the van.

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Off-Duty cop who crashes into Tiffany's in New York, arrested for driving while intoxicated

Off-duty cop arrested for drunken driving after cop car slams into front of Tiffany’s flagship 5th Avenue store

New York, NY

An off-duty cop was arrested for drunken driving after he slammed his car into the front of Tiffany’s flagship Fifth Avenue store at 3 a.m. today, police said.

The wreck happened as NYPD officer Raphael Ospina, 27, a cop since 2004, was heading east on 57th Street. He collided with a private garbage truck that was heading in the opposite direction and making a left turn onto Fifth Avenue south.

Ospina's Chrysler 300 sedan, with two passengers inside, jumped a curb and hit the famous façade of the legendary jewelry store.

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Man charged with 15th DWI, prosecutor requests bail be denied

Don’t let man facing 15th DUI out of jail, prosecutor urges

Warren, OH

Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins has asked that Keith J. Urso be kept in Trumbull County Jail without bail while the courts determine whether Urso is guilty of DUI for the 15th time.

Urso, 49, of Monroe Street and Vermont Street, was indicted Wednesday by a Trumbull County grand jury on two counts of driving under the influence with a prior felony conviction and repeat DUI offender.

Each charge carries a penalty of two to 10 years in prison.

Urso will be arraigned at 2:30 p.m. today by Judge Andrew Logan in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

The charges stem from an arrest by a Trumbull County sheriff’s deputy around 1 p.m. Jan. 31 in Mecca Township. Urso was charged with DUI and driving under suspension and found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.286 — more than three times the legal limit of 0.08, Watkins said. He had no license and was driving a girlfriend’s car, according to the sheriff’s department.

“The evidence will show that [Urso’s] drunken stupor was so profound, he could not stand and walk. Miraculously, no one was killed or injured by his driving,” Watkins wrote in a motion he filed with the common pleas court Wednesday.

Watkins told the court that Urso killed someone in 1982 while driving drunk and was sentenced to one year in prison in 2006 for another DUI.

“Since 1982 this defendant has amassed 14 separate [DUI] convictions and additional violations related to failure to appear, leaving the scene of an accident, domestic violence and probation violations,” Watkins wrote in the filing.

He added that Ohio law allows a person to be kept in jail instead of being released on bond if the person is charged with a felony “where the proof is evident or the presumption great and where the person poses a substantial risk of serious physical harm to any person or the community.”

Urso pleaded innocent to the charges in Central District Court Feb. 1 and was released from jail later that day after posting $20,000 bond.

He was arrested again Wednesday following the indictment.

In the Jan. 31 incident, a deputy responded to Monty’s Carry Out and Restaurant at Bazetta Road and state Route 88 after a witness said she saw Urso driving intoxicated north on Bazetta Road and that he had pulled into Monty’s to sleep.

When the deputy arrived, he smelled alcohol coming from Urso, found a half-empty beer can in the car, and Urso fell forward when he tried to get out of his car, the deputy’s report said.

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NY Man arrested for DWI had BAC of .043%, five times legal limit

Man arrested for DWI in New York had BAC more than 5 times the legal limit

Catskill, NY

State police say a Hudson Valley man is being held for observation at a hospital after he was arrested for driving with a blood-alcohol level five times the legal limit.

Troopers with the Thruway detail say 36-year-old Brian Tumas of Kingston was pulled over on Interstate 87 Tuesday afternoon when he made an illegal U-turn in the town of Catskill, 30 miles south of Albany.

Troopers charged him with driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest.

Police say he was taken to Kingston Hospital after troopers determined his blood-alcohol content was .43 percent, more than five times the .08 level for DWI under state law.

Tumas was given appearance tickets for Catskill Town Court. It wasn't known Wednesday if he has a lawyer

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Over 2 dozen DWI arrests over Super Bowl weekend in Albany

More than 2 dozen charged in Super Bowl weekend sweep

Albany, NY

A countywide DWI sweep on Super Bowl weekend resulted in more than 1,000 traffic stops, with 23 alcohol-related arrests and two for driving while impaired by drugs.


Two of the 23 drunken driving arrests were for aggravated driving while intoxicated, which means they had blood-alcohol levels of 0.18 and above.

This year's arrests were "on average" with last year's Super Bowl weekend sweep, which netted 21 for DWI and three for aggravated drunken driving, said Sheriff's First Sgt. Leonard Crouch, administrator of Albany County STOP-DWI Program.

"The only thing that went up was people who claimed to be designated drivers," Crouch said. Last year there were 36 and this year, 44.

Also, 100 more vehicles were stopped this year -- 1,048 compared to 944 last year, he said.

In Watervliet, officers arrested a man who gave a false name to try to conceal his identity and a previous conviction, which made his arrest felony DWI, authorities said. He was also charged with criminal impersonation.

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MADD used as a model by group for laws against driving while texting

St. Louis, MO

Over and over, the comparison is made to a battle that started 30 years ago with the death of a 13-year-old California girl.

The loss of Cari Lightner, who was run down by a drunk driver, served as a catalyst for change by spawning Mothers Against Drunk Driving, one of the best known nonprofit advocacy groups in the nation's history.

For those wanting to take cell phones out of the hands of drivers, MADD provides both inspiration and a road map for how to use the power of public opinion, political pressure and heart-wrenching stories of lost mothers, sons and daughters to force change.

"We're just borrowing their game plan. Law by law, they got it done," said Jennifer Smith, founder of fledgling FocusDriven, a Texas-based nonprofit that wants to reshape how society treats cell phones.


Already, a nationwide movement is underway to regulate their use in cars. Seven states ban handheld phones, while 19 others, including Illinois, ban all text messaging. Another nine states, including Missouri, ban texting for younger drivers — though it appears Missouri could expand the ban to all drivers this year.

Legislatures across the nation are debating dozens of new laws. And the federal government, which recently banned texting for all commercial truck and bus drivers, is making noise about tying highway funding to texting bans.

"People think they can drive safely while using a cell phone, but they can't," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a news conference last week. "We take this texting while driving as an epidemic."

Opponents of distracted driving are facing obstacles similar to those encountered by drunk-driving opponents back in the 1980s. Chief among them is the fact that many people don't see a problem with using a cell phone, or even texting, while driving.

This, despite numerous studies, including one in 2005 by researchers at the University of Utah, showing cell phone users' reaction times are on par with those of drunk drivers. For many, it comes down to the simple issue of personal freedom and not wanting to be told what to do.

Even in areas where texting or using a handheld phone is illegal, penalties are often relatively light. Along with education and public awareness campaigns, stiffer penalties is an area of focus for safety advocates such as Douglas Horn, a lawyer from Independence, Mo., who argues that cell phone violators should face the same consequences as drunk drivers.

"If you take away their driving privileges and you make some examples, you are going to get people's attention," Horn said.

Often, punishments can vary widely, even in deadly traffic accidents where cell phones are a contributing factor. Consider a pair of fatal accidents that occurred in the St. Louis area in 2008.

The first, in July, was the highly publicized Highway 40 incident in which a truck driver plowed through a line of cars, killing three people and injuring 15 others. According to police records, driver Jeffrey Knight, 49, of Muscle Shoals, Ala., said he was reaching for his cell phone when he realized the cars ahead had stopped. Knight was charged with three counts of involuntary manslaughter, felonies punishable by up to four years in prison each.

The second occurred in Arnold in August, when a pickup driver veered out of his lane and struck and killed a motorcyclist coming the opposite direction. According to police reports, driver Michael Oldani, 20, of Arnold, said he was answering his cell phone just before the accident occurred. And although Arnold police recommended manslaughter charges, prosecutors opted for a lesser charge of careless and imprudent driving, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Forrest Wegge would not discuss Oldani's case while it is pending. But he said manslaughter charges in general require the prosecution to prove criminal negligence.

"A lot of the time, it's a judgment call on the prosecutor's part," Wegge said.

It's one of the areas where distracted driving opponents want changes. They say it's reminiscent of the days before MADD, when drunk driving was more or less ignored by society and a legal system that often handed out slaps on the wrist for violators.

"It was a joke on late-night TV. It was perfectly acceptable," said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.

That was until Candace Lightner's daughter was killed while walking to a church carnival. The fiery Lightner unleashed a grass-roots campaign — fueled by tearful stories of lost loved ones — that spread rapidly across the country. The organization, which has hundreds of chapters across the nation and raises millions of dollars each year, is often looked upon as a model for effecting change.

Lightner and an army of volunteers attacked the issue at the local, state and national levels, pushing for increasingly strict laws and penalties for those who broke them. When they started, there were 30,000 drunk-driving deaths each year in the United States. The number was down to fewer than 12,000 in 2008.

Scoring a similar victory in the distracted driving battle won't be easy, suggests MADD founder Lightner, now a real estate agent in Florida. She empathizes with the distracted driving movement but sees obstacles that didn't exist when she started MADD.

The economy was better. There weren't nearly as many nonprofits competing for donations. And most importantly, no one had ever seen an organization like it before.

"I don't think I would be as successful today as I was then," Lightner said. "In the 1980s, we were unique. We were one of a kind."

Distracted driving opponents also face a relative dearth of statistics showing the size of the problem. According to government estimates, nearly 6,000 people die each year as result of distracted driving, with officials citing cell phones as a major source of those distractions. But the data are far from complete, with many states — until recently, Illinois was among them — doing little to track cell phone-related accidents.

Still, FocusDriven, which launched last month and has just five regional chapters, does have one of the key ingredients of MADD's success: the victims.

More specifically, they have the willingness to put names, faces and stories to the thousands of people killed each year in cell phone-related accidents. They've set up victim memorials on social network Facebook and photo-sharing site Flickr, where survivors post images and tell stories. They plan to testify and speak on the issue whenever possible.

And in today's world of instant communication, that's easier than ever.

"That's one advantage we have. They didn't have social networking," said founder Smith, whose mother was killed by a distracted driver in Oklahoma City in September 2008 while driving to get cat food.

But social networks and the Internet have their drawbacks — as anyone who has tried to reach the masses can attest.

"It's easy to create an authentic message and spread it to some people," said Matt Carlson, an assistant professor of communications at St. Louis University. "The problem is, how do you reach everybody? It's not easy."

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Prosecutors: Invalid DUI BAC tests in Colorado Springs double

Colorado Springs, CO

The number of flawed Colorado Springs police DUI tests has doubled to 167 since a crime lab audit last year discovered that some blood-alcohol results were inflated, the Colorado Springs Gazette reported.

The Police Department launched internal and external investigations after reporting Dec. 11 that a routine audit revealed errors in 82 initial cases.

El Paso County prosecutor Frederick Stein confirmed the doubling of flawed cases to The Gazette, but he could not say yet what the impact of the erroneous tests might be on prosecution of those criminal cases. He said the district attorney's office hopes to have a report compiling those outcomes within the next two weeks.
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At the time, the department started re-testing about 1,000 blood alcohol test results taken since January 2009, The Gazette reported. Meanwhile, prosecutors contacted individuals in the cases that were based upon the incorrect test results.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigations is conducting the external investigation and the Police Department is conducting its own internal review.

While the department review isn't completed, police spokesman Lt. David Whitlock told The Gazette: "We've narrowed it down to the point where we believe it is likely a human error. We believe very strongly that it’s not an equipment failure or something inherent in the lab itself."

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Texas cop's DWI case dismissed when arresting officer is no-show for court

McAllen, TX

An Hidalgo County judge killed a McAllen policeman’s criminal case after one of the defendant’s fellow officers failed to appear in court and testify against him, court records state.

Judge Jay Palacios of Hidalgo County Court-at-law No. 2 dealt a “fatal” blow to the prosecution’s case, Hidalgo County District Attorney Rene Guerra said, when he granted a motion to suppress evidence in Officer Alex Alvarez’s pending case on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

McAllen police arrested Alvarez on July 5, 2009, after they found him in his red Ford pickup truck at Chili’s, 521 E. Nolana. An anti-theft locking device was still attached to the steering wheel as he allegedly attempted to leave the restaurant while drunk. In the process, his truck collided with a parked car.

“The outcome of last night may determine his future,” McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez said the day after Alvarez’s arrest.

But in criminal court, at least, it appears Alvarez may have avoided a DWI conviction. The arresting officer failed to appear for a court hearing where he was to explain why Alvarez had been arrested.

“Nobody showed up to testify,” said Alvarez’s attorney, Toribio “Terry” Palacios. “We got all the evidence suppressed. There’s not much I can comment on.”

Alvarez refused a breath test and would not submit to other sobriety tests at the police station, according to Monitor archives.

Restaurant employees told police Alvarez had been bothering four female customers and was told to return to his table. The restaurant manager suspected Alvarez was too drunk to drive and called a taxi to take him home. While waiting for the cab to arrive, the manager tried to stall Alvarez, who apparently stripped a pair of glasses from his head and threw them to the floor.

District Attorney Guerra said he learned Wednesday that the case was set for dismissal when a Monitor reporter contacted him about the matter. Guerra said he would ask Palacios to reconsider his decision to suppress the evidence in the case.

“Legally, I don’t know if he can reconsider it,” the district attorney said. “I don’t know until I try.”

But why the arresting officer missed the court date remains unclear.

Court records show the officer was served a subpoena Jan. 12 to appear in court for the scheduled hearing one week later.

Guerra said he learned the arresting officer had worked the graveyard shift the night before the hearing and missed the Jan. 19 court date.

McAllen’s Police Chief Rodriguez said he believed the officer was hospitalized. Rodriguez provided no further details.

Two officers from the McAllen police force’s internal affairs division were in the courtroom that day as part of their administrative investigation, Guerra said.

“They knew he had been subpoenaed and failed to show up,” the district attorney said.

Alvarez, meanwhile, remains on unpaid administrative leave — as he has since his arrest last summer, Rodriguez said.

No decision has been made about any consequences the 14-year police veteran could face, the chief said, but those could range from suspension to Alvarez’s firing. The arresting officer could face administrative consequences for failing to appear in court, as well.

“Now I need to figure out what will happen in this one,” Rodriguez said.

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Utah Senator arrested for DUI was strong proponent for strong anti-drunk driving legislation

Salt Lake City, UT

Arrested Utah Senate Majority Leader, Sheldon Killpack was slated to speak to Senate Rebublicans along with the Governor Friday. But was previously arrested for DUI suspicion, leaving Sen. Wayne Niederhauser in his place.

Just last year, Killpack sponsored two major pieces of legislation aimed at cracking down on drunk driving.

"It's difficult as a legislator to be always there on the top of the stand for everybody to see and to look at and by no means are we perfect people," said Neiderhauser.

Killpack's collegues are not making any excuses for the arrest. And both sides of the aisle know the situation feeds public cynicism.

"I'm not sure how we'll respond to that, but we'll respond to it prudently, deliberately, and in the best interests of Sen. Killpakc and his family," says Neiderhauser.

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DWI conviction of man sleeping in parked car upheld by Minnesote Supreme Court

Minneapolis, MN

Being drunk and asleep at the wheel of his car while it was parked in his apartment lot with the keys on the console was sufficient evidence to convict a Crookston man of drunken driving, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday.

In a seven-page decision, Justice Alan Page said the jury could reasonably conclude that Daryl Fleck was in "physical control" of his vehicle when arrested.

Fleck's appellate lawyer, G. Tony Atwal, an assistant state public defender, disagreed with the ruling. "Presumably, if you're in or about your car, the county attorney could now charge you with a physical control DWI," Atwal said.

In 2007, Fleck was drunk and asleep in his car with the driver's door open in the assigned parking spot at his apartment building when someone called police. He got his fourth drunken-driving conviction and was sentenced to four years in prison. The state Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, setting up the appeal to the Supreme Court.

Atwal said he pushed the appeals because there was no indication Fleck had driven; the engine was cold, and the car wouldn't even start when an officer tried it. If the car had been by the side of the road, it would have been very different, Atwal said.

The Supreme Court resoundingly disagreed.

Page emphasized that the law says "physical control of a motor vehicle" in an attempt to deter intoxicated people from getting into cars except as passengers and to help nab drunken drivers.

"Mere presence in or about a vehicle is insufficient to show physical control; it is the overall situation that is determinative," he wrote.

He acknowledged that Fleck's circumstances were not typical for a "physical control" drunken-driving offense because the jury couldn't infer Fleck drove to the spot where he was found.

But a jury could reasonably determine that "Fleck, having been found intoxicated, alone, and sleeping behind the wheel of his own vehicle with the keys in the vehicle's console, was in a position to exercise dominion or control over the vehicle and that he could, without too much difficulty, make the vehicle a source of danger," the justice wrote.

Page said that in evaluating whether someone has control, the courts and juries consider a number of factors: proximity to the car, the location of the keys, whether the person was a passenger, the ownership of the car and whether it was operable.

He cited a case in which the state Supreme Court reinstated the drunken-driving charge of a person found behind the wheel of a car that was stuck and couldn't be moved without a tow truck. Page said the court determined that "intent to operate" isn't a requirement for finding that someone was in "physical control" of the vehicle.

Fleck remains in treatment and under court supervision, Atwal said.

Steve Simon, a University of Minnesota law professor and head of the DWI Task Force, said arrests such as Fleck's are so common the suspects have a name: "slumpers." He said that more often police find drivers passed out at a stoplight or parked by a roadside.

He said state law broadly defines "physical control" because "you don't want people to get into a car if they've been drinking." In one case, a person got a drunken-driving charge because he was steering an inoperable car that was being towed, Simon said.

In another Minnesota case, a man was drinking at home, then went to listen to the high-end stereo in his new SUV parked outside. Simon said neighbors called police about the noise, and the man ended up with a drunken-driving charge and an impounded vehicle.

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Man suspected of DUI fled police wearing only women's underwear

Highland, CA

A suspected drunken driver who led sheriff's deputies on a high speed pursuit through Highland late Monday was arrested after fleeing on foot wearing only women's underwear, officials said.

Bruce Parker, 42, was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of an alcoholic beverage and a controlled substance and violating his parole.

Deputies tried to pull him over about 10:15 p.m. after seeing him go straight from a right hand turn lane on Highland Avenue. He allegedly refused to pull over, eventually hitting the San Manuel welcome sign and a signal light control box at the intersection of Victoria and Citrus avenues.

He then leaped out of the car and tried to run, wearing only women's underwear, officials said.

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New York police officers admit protecting their own from DWI

Asbury Park, NJ

A driver speeding through Tarrytown, N.Y. rolled over and struck a fence and guardrail. Another was accused of running a red light before smashing into a Scarsdale police car. A third hit a Greenburgh ambulance, and a fourth rammed into a truck on Interstate 287.

Four accidents involving allegedly drunken drivers within a three-week period is hardly unusual in Westchester. What made these stand out were the drivers: All were off-duty law enforcement officers, and all now face misdemeanor charges of driving while intoxicated.

At a time when police brass are pushing DWI crackdowns, which have led to a record number of arrests, the recent cluster of crashes allegedly by drunken police officers from Dobbs Ferry, Westchester County and White Plains, plus a county correction officer, has been an official embarrassment and a public eye-opener. However, police say it's not completely surprising, given that many in law enforcement quietly turn a blind eye to drunken off-duty officers when they're stopped.

"If you can get them a ride home and put their car someplace safe, that's what you do," said one central Westchester patrol officer who agreed to speak anonymously. "It's kind of an unwritten rule. You don't jam up another cop unless you have to."

In conversations with 10 police officers who spoke under the condition that their names and departments not be identified, all told The Journal News that off-duty cops are rarely charged with driving while intoxicated unless they were involved in an accident.

"That's a situation that you can't hide," said one officer. "I'm not going to risk my career in a case like that."

Even when they are arrested, law enforcement officers, familiar with the legal system, do what they can to protect themselves. In the recent cases, White Plains Police Officer Joe Zepeda, county Officer Joseph Kraus, Dobbs Ferry Officer Michael Huffman and Correction Officer Patricia Yancy-Johnson all refused to submit to chemical tests that determine blood-alcohol levels, despite knowing that their driver's licenses could be automatically revoked for a year.

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Minnesota man with dozens of DWI's is going to prison

Fergus, MN

One of Minnesota's worst drunk drivers is going to prison.

Danny Lee Bettcher, 57, of rural Wadena, Otter Tail County, was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for driving while intoxicated after refusing a chemical test.

Bettcher has more than two dozen DWI convictions in the past 20 years. Among them are 14 confirmed DWI offenses in Minnesota, according to the Otter Tail County Attorney’s office.

He was most recently arrested May 8, 2009 in New York Mills after police said he went through a stop sign on his motorcycle and was arrested on suspicion of felony first-degree DWI.

In May, the County Attorney’s office charged Bettcher with operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to testing in the first degree, and the lesser charges of driving after revocation and possession of a small amount of marijuana. All but the DWI-refusal charges were dismissed in Otter Tail County District Court. He had been held in the Otter Tail County Jail since May and reported to the St. Cloud Correctional Facility on Friday.

In January 2004, Bettcher was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for first-degree DWI, his first felony DWI conviction.

He was placed on supervised release in October 2006.

In June 2007, he was sent back to prison for a minimum of one year for violating conditions of his release by consuming alcohol and entering a business that sells alcohol.

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MADD Unhappy with Ohio Prosecutor over ride with DUI suspect

CLEVELAND, OH

The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving is unhappy with an Ohio prosecutor for taking a ride home with a political ally who was stopped by police and charged with drunken driving.

The MADD organization in Cleveland says it's disappointed with Cuyahoga (ky-uh-HOH'-guh) County Prosecutor Bill Mason because his office has worked to lock up drunken drivers, especially those involved in fatal crashes.

The group says the outcome of the incident could have been tragic.

Mason says he didn't think his friend, a Parma city councilman, was impaired when he accepted a ride from him.

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South Dakota woman prosuectors claim had record BAC of .709 pleads not guilty to DWI charge

Sturgis, SD

The Sturgis woman who prosecutors say was arrested with a blood-alcohol level almost nine times the legal driving limit, has pleaded not guilty in Sturgis to driving under the influence.

Marguerite Engle, 45, entered the plea Tuesday in Meade County Magistrate Court in Sturgis. Engle was arrested Dec. 1 when she was found passed out behind the wheel of a stolen delivery van along Interstate 90.

Meade County State's Attorney Jesse Sondreal said Wednesday that other charges against Engle will be presented to a grand jury on Thursday, Jan. 14. Those include driving under the influence, misdemeanor marijuana possession, possession of drug paraphernalia and not having a valid driver's license.

Sondreal earlier said Engle had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found behind the wheel of the vehicle parked on I-90.

A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Engle passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen from Rapid City.

Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota's legal limit of .08 percent.

Engle's reading may be the highest ever recorded in South Dakota, Sondreal said.

Sondreal said a state chemist recalled a sample that tested .53, but nothing higher, in his more than 30 years on the job.

Dr. Robert Looyenga, who recently retired from the Rapid City Police Department's forensic laboratory, told Sondreal that the highest blood-alcohol sample he tested measured .56 percent.

Sondreal's research indicates that a blood-alcohol level of .40 is considered a lethal dose for about 50 percent of the population.

"Engle's was almost double that," Sondreal said.

After she was found, Engle was hospitalized and freed on bond.

She failed to appear in court on Dec. 15, but Sturgis police located her Jan. 4 in another stolen car sitting in a ditch along S.D. Highway 34 near Fort Meade.

Engle was arrested for second offense driving under the influence and taken to jail. She is being held without bond.

Sondreal said Engle has been living in a hotel after recently moving here from Minnesota.

Engle is most likely facing charges in Pennington County since both vehicles were stolen in Rapid City, Sondreal said.

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Police Chief may get job back after DWI conviction

Lancaster, NH

The former Errol police chief could get his job back because the town didn’t follow proper procedures when it fired him following a drunken driving conviction.

A judge ruled last week that the firing of Randolph "Randy" DiFruscio had to be reversed because the town selectmen took three months to give him a written reason for his firing.

The New Hampshire Union Leader says state law requires that police chiefs be given written notice when they are fired. They then have 45 days to appeal.

Lawyer Rick Lehman says DiFruscio’s certification as a police officer was reinstated Jan. 1 following a six month suspension.

DiFruscio was on a personal leave of absence last April from his job as Errol’s only police officer when he was convicted of DWI.

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Minnesota man charged in 20th DWI arrest

Stillwater, MN

Authorities say they can't charge a St. Paul man with a felony after he was arrested for the 20th time on suspicion of drunken driving.

Minnesota law makes a fourth drunken driving offense within 10 years a felony. But prosecutors say that because only 2 of Paul Garay's DWI convictions were in the past 10 years, the 55-year-old could only be charged with gross misdemeanors Monday.

Washington County Attorney Doug Johnson says it's another example of a system that's too lenient on drunken drivers.

Garay remained jailed Tuesday on a parole violation and couldn't be reached for comment. Jail records don't list his attorney's name.

Garay crashed at Highway 61 and Interstate 494 in Newport Thursday evening. The complaint says his blood alcohol level was 0.16 percent, twice the legal limit.

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New drunk driving ignition interlock law in Illinois required IID for 1st offense DUI, doubles number of ignition interlock devices

Springfield, MO

Advocates say a year-old Illinois DUI law is saving lives.

As of last Jan. 1, Illinois law requires first-time DUI offenders to install a Breathalyzer in their vehicles in order to keep driving.

Officials say about 6,100 of the devices have been installed. Before the law, about 3,000 Illinoisans with multiple DUIs had the devices.

The ignition interlocks prevent engines from starting until drivers blow into the alcohol detectors to prove they're sober.

The device also does periodic checks to keep drivers from getting someone else to blow for them to get the vehicle started.

Susan McKinney is the program's director. She says putting the devices in for first-time offenders may keep them from driving drunk again.

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Twitter helps drivers avoid DUI checkpoints

FRESNO, CA

In a ritual nearly as familiar as Santa Claus and crowded stores, police agencies have again stepped up enforcement of drunken-driving laws this holiday season.

Studies have found sobriety checkpoints reduce alcohol-related crashes because they create awareness about the risk of arrest.

But some public-safety officials say that message might be lost on the group most at risk _ young drivers. Trying to elude arrest for drunken driving, young people use technology to keep each other informed about the location of sobriety checkpoints, said Sgt. Dave Gibeault, head of the Fresno Police Department's traffic unit.

Tools include Twitter, text messages and an iPhone application specifically designed to identify checkpoints, Gibeault said.

Statistics provide a cause for concern: The number of people killed or injured in alcohol-related accidents during the holiday season in Fresno County has hovered around 34 for the last four years, according to state figures _ stubbornly resisting high-profile enforcement campaigns.

Gibeault thinks young people are drinking more, in part because clubs aimed at that population have proliferated. And young drinkers can check their cell phones to find out where police are stopping motorists, he said.

His own daughter often sends him text messages about where she's heard he's running checkpoints.

On Twitter, a free electronic message service that runs on both cell phones and computers, drivers can warn each other with "tweets" listing intersections where police have set up checkpoints.

Fresno attorney Brian Andritch sees nothing wrong with efforts to spread the word about checkpoints.

Andritch, who used to prosecute drunken drivers when he worked in the Fresno County District Attorney's Office, now defends them _ and warns others about sobriety checkpoints on Twitter.

"I don't see how it's any different than what police are doing in promoting checkpoints," he said in an interview.

Gibeault said it's one thing to spread the word about checkpoints in general, which police want. It's quite another to provide information that might encourage people to drive drunk, he said.

Wayne Ziese, a spokesman for the California Office of Traffic Safety, said he's heard a lot of stories about young people using technology to avoid drunken driving arrests.

"Young people continue to be the most dangerous drivers," he said. "They will continue to drink and drive until they have families and realize they have something to lose."

Ziese said law enforcement hasn't figured out how to respond to the more immediate and precise information about checkpoints circulating on the Web and via cell phones. The Office of Traffic Safety provides funding to help with such enforcement, including more than $5 million to Fresno County agencies in the last five years.

"New technology brings us new challenges, whether it's warfare or DUI," Ziese said.

Fresno police are known for their innovative approaches to DUI enforcement, and will likely figure out an appropriate response, Ziese said.

But changing the checkpoints can be a problem, Gibeault said. Police can't easily move them once their location has been broadcast, because of legal requirements and the large number of officers and equipment involved, he said.

In any case, the purpose of the checkpoints isn't to take drunken drivers off the road, Gibeault said. The point is preventing them from getting in the car in the first place.

In 2001, experts convened by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reached the same conclusion. The group concluded that checkpoints reduced alcohol-related accidents by an average of 20 percent.

"Although checkpoints may remove some drinking drivers from the road, their primary goal is to reduce driving after drinking by increasing the perceived risk of arrest," the researchers said.

Saturation patrols _ in which police focus on troubled areas with a lot of officers on the move _ are more effective than checkpoints at catching drunken drivers, Gibeault said.

In the last three winter holiday seasons, more than 18,000 vehicles have passed through checkpoints in Fresno and Madera counties, according to the Office of Traffic Safety. Only 1 percent of the motorists were arrested for driving under the influence.

By contrast, saturation patrols conducted during the same time produced seven times as many arrests for driving under the influence.

"I was a hard sell on checkpoints," Gibeault concedes. "I wanted to put drunk drivers in jail."

But he said he learned over time how effective checkpoints are.

He said he remains a strong supporter of checkpoints, even though the number of drunken-driving accidents has gone up during winter holidays in Fresno.

Last winter holiday, motorists charged with driving under the influence were involved in 49 crashes, compared to 36 five years earlier, police figures show.

Some of the increase is likely due to population gains, and the jump would have been higher if not for checkpoints, Gibeault said.

Clovis Police Chief Janet Davis said more people would have been hurt or killed if checkpoints weren't set up, and police must continue the effort.

"We're still doing these campaigns because people aren't getting it," she said.

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Free funerals offered for drunken drivers in GA

Rome, GA

Funeral Home Says Effort Designed To Save Lives

Planning to drink and drive this New Year's? A north Georgia funeral home has a deal for you.
Between now and noon Thursday, drivers can visit McGuire, Jennings and Miller Funeral Home in Rome to sign a contract stating they plan to drink or take drugs and then drive on New Year's Eve. If they die in a wreck that day, the funeral home will give them a free burial.
Services included in the package are a casket, grave, limousine and preparation of remains.
Funeral home officials said the program is designed to save lives by making partygoers think twice about drinking and driving.

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Drunk driving suspects and DWI arrest information to be posted on Twitter by Texas district attorney

Houston, TX

A drunk-driving arrest can costs thousands of dollars and maybe your job, but in one local county it could cost you public embarrassment, too.

The Montgomery County District Attorney has an active Twitter site, and he says he'll be "Twittering" names and arrest information of DWI suspects.

“There is definitely a deterrent effect in the potential public humiliation people may face when they get arrested for DWI," said Warren Diepraam, an assistant district attorney.

This is part of a widespread crackdown on drunk driving over the Christmas and New Year's Day holiday period. But not everyone thinks the new program is fair.

Tyler Flood is one of Houston’s top DWI defense attorneys and thinks only the names of those convicted should be posted.

“Here is another form of punishment, if you are arrested for DWI, the problem is it's a punishment. That is something that comes after a conviction, not before," said Flood.

It's also a "no refusal" period between Dec. 18 and Jan. 3, 2010, which means peace officers can get a court order to take blood samples of DWI suspects who refuse a breathalyzer test.

Some agencies also use an infra-red camera, known as a "hawkeye," to record a suspect's eyes during a field sobriety test.

“What everybody needs to understand is that when you get arrested by a police officer, that can be in the public domain for rest of life even if you're not convicted and people need to think about that before they make a poor decision," said Diepraam.

Many agencies will have extra officers on the street though grant programs designated to crack down on drunk driving. Agencies use the extra money to pay overtime for officers.

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Amish driver of slow-moving horse-pulled buggy arrested for DWI

Lancaster, PA

Big news in Quarryville, PA, the other night: Police charged the driver of a slow-moving horse and buggy with drunk driving. The man was Amish, slumped over and asleep as the slowly-moving buggy meandered through town.
After police who him up, 22-year-old Elmer Stolzfoos Fisher blew a point-18 on the breathalyzer --legal limit is point-08 in P-A.

Wait, isn't the horse a designated driver?
--The good news: None of his family will find out about this on the television.
--"The reason I pulled you over sir is that you had your turn-candle on for the last five miles."

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Flawed blood alcohol tests by police lab jeopardize DUI cases

Colorado Springs, CO

Prosecutors have begun contacting lawyers for 82 defendants whose drunken driving charges were based in part upon incorrect blood alcohol tests by the Colorado Springs police crime lab.

In each of the cases, test results reported by the forensic chemist unit of the Metro Crime Lab were higher that the actual results, police officials disclosed Friday.

Fourth Judicial District prosecutors were unable to identify specific cases where charges had been dismissed or reduced so far.

However, Assistant District Attorney Dan Zook said that could happen as the investigation continues.

“We’re not going to be relying upon any questionable blood alcohol content results,” he said. “The District Attorney’s office and the Colorado Springs Police realize how serious it is and we’re acting accordingly.”

“We don’t want to treat anybody as guilty if they’re not,” he added.

The 82 flawed test results were discovered in mid-November by a routine internal quality assurance review done by the Colorado Springs Police Department's crime lab, said department spokesman Lt. David Whitlock.

“That number could grow,” Whitlock said. “We’re continuing to do follow-up.”

So far, tests by the manufacturer have determined that the incorrect results were not the result of an equipment failure, police said.

At the Police Department’s request, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation will conduct an external and independent investigation of what went wrong.

The Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit also is conducting its own investigation.

“If there are corrections we need to make, we’ll make them,” said interim Deputy Chief Rod Walker.

Whitlock said the on-going investigation is trying to determine if they were the result of a human error or a procedural error.

As a result of the discovery, the crime lab is re-analyzing about 1,000 blood alcohol test results taken since January 2009.

Test results prior to that date have not been called into question because they had been subjected to the same kind of internal quality assurance testing that led to the 82 cases being discovered, Whitlock said.

The questionable results relate only to blood alcohol testing and not to any of the other exams the crime lab performs such as DNA testing, fingerprint processing, firearms analysis or crime scene reconstruction, police said.

Police immediately notified the District Attorney’s Office and the Department of Revenue, which relies upon the test results in administrative decisions on whether to suspend a driver’s license.

Mark Couch, a spokesman for the Revenue Department, said re-test results from 60 of the 82 questionable cases have resulted in at least three people having their driving privileges restored so far.

News of the flawed tests touched off a flurry of calls to local lawyers from clients wondering if their DUI case was among the 82 cases with incorrect blood alcohol test results.

“My phone’s been ringing off the hook this morning,” said Colorado Springs lawyer Tim Bussey.

“It calls into question the testing procedure and the oversight of the lab,” Bussey added. “Now everyone who’s been tested is questioning the accuracy and reliability of the testing procedure.”

Bussey said he didn’t know yet if any of his clients were affected, but said his office would be reviewing its cases from the time period in question.

“Prosecutors…judges…police and the Department of Revenue rely upon these results,” he said. “There may be people who have lost their license or gone to jail because of this.”

Lawyers who specialize in defending DUI clients often send out blood samples to independent labs to verify the results posted by the crime lab, said Colorado Springs lawyer Alvin Brown.

The Colorado Springs Metro Crime Lab opened in November 2008. Built at a cost of $1.6 million, it was touted as helping police solve crimes faster by provided a quicker turnaround in reporting test results.

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Infamous motorized DWI chair to be auctioned on eBay...again

Proctor, MN

The Proctor’s City Council and the Police Chief decided to put the now infamous motorized lounge chair back on the auction block.

Within the next few weeks, the chair will again be posted for sale on eBay.

This will be the third time the chair will be up for auction. The first time, the bidding reached over $43,000 before eBay canceled the sale. eBay now says “…the listing should not have been removed, including for search and browse manipulation.”

During a second auction, Clayton Adler of Cupertino, California had the winning bid of $10,999.99. However, he claimed to have placed the bid in error.

Police Chief Walter Wobig filed a complaint with eBay. City Attorney John Bray suggested that Proctor pursue the difference from Adler if the next sale garners less than the amount of his winning bid.

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DWI defense lawyers push for new law to make sleeping it off in car not "driving" while intoxicated

Edgewood, NM

At what point did it begin to make sense to the DWI industry that sleeping in a parked car constitutes "driving" while intoxicated?

A group of New Mexico defense attorneys is pushing to change DWI laws after an Edgewood man was recently convicted for DWI even though he wasn't driving.

Fidencio Francia was convicted of DWI a few weeks ago after he was caught by police drunk and sleeping in his truck.

Francia admits he drank, but he insists he did not drive. He lost the case anyway. That has many New Mexicans outraged.

"People should be rewarded, to some degree, for acknowledging the fact that they should not be driving. Even if they made the initial mistake of starting to drive but they realize it," said Ousama Rasheed of the New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.

Rasheed says Francia's case is an example of someone who did the right thing but was convicted of DWI anyway. Rasheed now wants to propose a change to DWI laws that would make what Francia did a petty misdemeanor instead.

He proposed a penalty of up to 90 days in jail, a $500 fine and attending a DWI school. However, you would not end up with a DWI on your record.

"Had Dana Pabst slept in his vehicle instead of driving, had Gordon House slept in his vehicle instead of driving, had Lloyd Larson slept in his vehicle instead of driving, that would have been a lot of lives that would have been saved," said Rasheed.

But the DWI Resource Center is absolutely against the proposal. Officials say DWI laws need to stay exactly the way they are.

"When someone's passed out, sleeping in their vehicle, who has the crystal ball to say they're not going to wake up and drive down the road still impaired," said Linda Atkinson.

Rasheed says he's in the process of drafting a bill and finding a state legislator to sponsor it. He expects it to be introduced in the January legislative session.

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Motorized bar stool from DUI arrest to be sold on eBay

Newark, OH

A motorized bar stool that got an Ohio man arrested for drunken driving goes up for auction this week on eBay.

Twenty-nine-year-old Kile Wygle was charged with driving under the influence after he crashed the contraption in March in the central Ohio city of Newark. He pleaded guilty the following month and spent three days in jail.

A Licking County judge ruled in June that any profit from sale of the stool should go toward back child support. At the time, Wygle owed about $37,000.

The county seized the bar stool and plans to post it for auction on Thursday. The agency intervened after learning that Wygle hoped to sell the barstool to Ripley's Believe it or Not.

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Jury awards $89 million against drunken driver for fatal crash

Franklin County, MO

A jury has awarded $89 million in damages to the family of a man killed in a 2008 crash with a drunken driver, and to the man's fiancée and daughter.

"The eye-popping numbers were the jury's attempt to send a message the only way they could," said attorney Mark Bronson, whose firm won the case Monday after a one-day trial in Franklin County Circuit Court.

He said Tuesday he doubts his clients will ever see a fraction of the money. But he said the jury's disgust with drunken driving was unmistakable.

Officials said that TZ (name withheld), 20, at the time at the crash, was already driving on a hardship license after a previous DWI when he caused a head-on collision Feb. 2, 2008, on Highway 100 near Gray Summit.

TZ's blood-alcohol level was 0.20 percent, 2 1/2 times the legal limit to drive, according to Missouri Highway Patrol testimony at the trial.

Dennis Riegel Jr., 28, of Washington, was killed in the crash. His fiancée, Christine Hodge, who was 13 weeks pregnant, was seriously hurt.

Hodge, now 24, has since had a daughter, Bailee. The couple had been returning from a shopping mall where they had registered for gifts for their upcoming wedding.

The jury awarded $53.5 million to Hodge and $35.5 million to the couple's daughter and Riegel's parents.

Five months before the crash, TZ was arrested and his license was suspended for his involvement in another DWI-related wreck, officials said.

TZ has been sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison on DWI-related convictions involving both crashes.

"I think the jury was expressing its belief that the system is not working," Bronson said. "And they're sending a message that sentences need to be tougher and they need to be increased across the board."

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Republican Senator Richard Luger's wife arrested for DUI after leaving scene of accident

McLean, VA

The vehicle had extensive front end damage and smoke coming from it. After further investigation it was determined Charlene Lugar, the driver of the vehicle was intoxicated and had hit a parked vehicle in the 7100 block of Churchill Dr. No one was injured.

Senator Richard Lugar is apologizing today, for his wife who was arrested for a DUI.

Charlene Lugar was arrested Wednesday after an officer became suspicious.

Police busted Charlene Lugar near the home she shares with Senator Lugar in the suburb of McLean, Virginia. Today, he expresses disappointment over the situation.

Police took a mug shot of Charlene Lugar shortly after her arrest in McLean Virginia not far from her home. Just after 6pm on Wednesday evening an officer spotted the wife of Senator Richard Lugar in a vehicle that looked like it had been involved in an accident.

Investigators say they soon determined she had been drinking and that she collided with a car.

Senator Lugar released a statement saying, "Thankfully no one was injured. We are deeply sorry and embarrassed that this accident has occurred."

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MADD award-winning trooper of the year arrested for drunk driving

Lima, OH

A state trooper in northwest Ohio who was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving in 1997 for the number of drunken-driving arrests he made has been charged with drunken driving.

A patrol spokesman said Monday that Gerald Gibson had taken leave following his arrest last weekend.

Gibson was off duty Sunday when Waynesfield police say he drifted over the center lane and then refused to take a Breathalyzer test. Waynesfield is 12 miles northwest of Lima.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored Gibson in 1997 for making the most drunken-driving arrests by a Lima trooper. He was named trooper of the year in 2002 in Lima.

A message left with Gibson's attorney, William Kluge, was not immediately returned.

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New York's new DWI law said to be toughest in the United States

Albany, NY

Governor David Paterson signed the nation's toughest drunk driving law Wednesday, making it a felony to drive intoxicated with a passenger 15 years old or under in New York.

The State Senate passed the bill 58-0 this afternoon, a day after it was passed by the State Assembly.

The legislation is named for 11-year-old Leandra Rosado, who was killed last month when the car she was riding in crashed on the West Side Highway.

The driver, Carmen Huertas, has been indicted on charges of manslaughter and drunk driving.

The crash prompted calls for tougher laws against drunk drivers.

Under the bill, it is a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car, and it carries a maximum sentence of one to four years. Those who injure a child passenger while driving drunk face a D felony and four to 15 years in prison.

Driving recklessly while intoxicated and causing the death to a child passenger will be considered a B felony and will carry seven to 25 years in prison, according to the new legislation.

All those convicted of a DWI will be required to install an ignition interlock device in their vehicles.

"Perhaps the passage of this legislation will help provide relief and will assure us this kind of situation might never happen to another parent such as yourself," said Paterson to Lenny Rosado, immediately before signing the bill. "This child was victimized by the complete irresponsibility of a driver who was warned several times before a fatal accident."

"She was my heart, my soul, and my best friend," said Rosado. "And the day after I made a decision that I don't want to see no other parent or grandparent lose their child the way I lost my child, to someone who was very reckless."

Both houses also passed the long negotiated Authorities Reform Bill Wednesday, which is meant to bring increased transparency to the state's authorities.

Still, the one reason why lawmakers were brought back up to Albany has not yet been accomplished. Wednesday marked special session day four which came and went without a deal to close the state's $3.2 billion budget deficit.

"I wouldn't put a timeline on this kind of negotiation. Numerically we're probably not far apart in numbers. But as I've said before my interest is not in numbers, it's what are you hitting," Paterson said.

The governor and leaders say talks will continue and hopefully they'll have a deal by Thursday. If not, the governor says they'll continue to work.

Paterson says he wants to see "real and recurring cuts," and has criticized the Legislature for refusing to find solutions.

All five legislative leaders met with the governor behind closed doors late Tuesday night. The main stumbling blocks, according to the leaders, remain the governor's proposed cuts to education and health care.

While a new Marist Poll finds that a majority of voters do not agree with the way the governor is handling the fiscal crisis, they also do not blame Paterson for the budget gap.

According to the survey of more than 800 registered voters, 70 percent believe the state representatives are to blame for failing to address the problem early on, while only 21 percent blame the Paterson.

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New law in New York makes driving while intoxicated (DWI) with a child in car a felony

Albany, NY

Gov. David A. Paterson Wednesday signed a bill making it a felony to drive drunk with a child in the car.

The new law requires all motorists convicted of DWI to install an ignition interlock device that prevents a vehicle's engine from starting if alcohol is detected on the breath. The device would be installed for a minimum of six months and up to almost 17 years.

The law contains some of the toughest penalties for DWI in the country and is similar to a measure adopted earlier in Arizona.

Paterson's signature came three hours after the State Senate gave final passage to the bill.

The 20-minute debate on the Senate floor was emotional with references to July's wrong-way crash on the Taconic State Parkway caused by Diane Schuler of West Babylon.

"We have to act when parents don't want to protect their children," said Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington), who represents Floral Park, where three of the children killed on the Taconic lived.

Sen. Charles Fuschillo (R-Merrick), the bill's co-sponsor, said, "seven people were murdered on the Taconic . . . this has been the bloodiest summer."

The Taconic crash led Paterson, Fuschillo and Assemb. Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach) to push for a felony charge for motorists with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 and accompanied by a minor 15 and younger.

Some in the Assembly's Democratic majority had sought a higher threshold but relented after lobbying by the father of Leandra Rosado, 11, killed last month on the Henry Hudson Parkway. The law is named after Rosado.

The felony charge, punishable by up to 4 years in prison, takes effect in 30 days. The ignition interlock penalty begins in August.

Prosecutors praised the law.

However, the American Beverage Institute, representing restaurants serving alcohol, said the ignition interlock rule could impact moderate drinkers. Director Sarah Longwell said it "should instead apply to high blood-alcohol count and repeat offenders who cause the vast majority of alcohol-impaired fatalities."

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Man in breathalyzer costume arrested for driving while intoxicated

Oxford, OH

Man dressed as breathalyzer arrested for drink-driving
By TOM PHILLIPS - Tuesday, November 3, 2009
If you're going to dress up as a breathalyzer for Halloween, you should probably make sure that you don't find yourself on the wrong end of an actual breathalyzer later that night. Advice that Ohio student James Miller utterly failed to heed.

Do not blow there: James Miller, dressed as breathalyzer

Miller was stopped by police on suspicion of drink-driving in the small hours of Sunday morning in Oxford, Ohio, after he was spotted merrily driving the wrong way down a one-way street, while wearing a breathalyzer costume.

Suspicions that he may have been drinking were heightened by the fact that there was an open can of Bud Light by the driver's seat, what was left of a case of the beer (using that term loosely) on the passenger seat, and more in the boot.

Miller's brethalyser costume featured a dial with three levels of drunkenness: Boring, Life of the Party, and Sotally Tober.

When confronted, Miller stuffed chewing gum into his mouth, and insisted he hadn't been drinking.

Unfortunately, for the fake breathalyzer, a real blood alcohol test showed he had a level of .158, almost twice the legal limit. He was also found to have multiple IDs on him.

Miller was charged with underage drinking, driving under the influence of alcohol and a one-way street violation. He was released to his girlfriend - but not before featuring in an attractive breathalyzer-costume mugshot that will surely guarantee him lasting internet fame.

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DWI La-Z-Boy chair sells on eBay for over $10,099.99

Duluth, MN

The auction ended at 7:12 p.m. and $10,099.99 emerged as the winning bid for a motorized recliner.

Proctor Police Chief Walter Wobig had no quarrel with the price to be paid for a vehicle his department seized following the drunken driving conviction of its owner and operator, Dennis LeRoy Anderson.

“We’ve had this vehicle in holding since Aug. 31, 2008, and if you would have told me then that it would sell for more than $10,000, I would have said you were nuts,” Wobig said.

Anderson, too, was pleasantly surprised by the response, saying: “I figured it was probably worth two or three grand at most.”

This was the chair’s second appearance on eBay. It was initially listed as a La-Z-Boy. But this false claim was flagged by the staid manufacturer of more pedestrian furniture. When informed of the improper label attached to the item, eBay pulled the chair from auction Monday. At that time, the top bid for the motorized recliner sat at more than $43,000.

“Maybe that’s the power of the La-Z-Boy name,” joked Wobig.

More likely, however: the story of Anderson’s conviction and oddly-directed ingenuity had begun to run the final leg of its course in the international news cycle.

“Never in my wildest dreams, did I think that every branch of media would pick up on this story,” said Wobig. “I’ve received thousands of e-mails on this case and we’ve been contacted by press from Japan, France, Germany and the British Times. This morning, I was on KROQ radio in L.A.”

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On eBay: DWI La-Z-Boy

La-z-boy DWI Chair, Motorized Chair, lazy boy

Vehicle Description

Known as the world famous DWI Motorized La-Z-Boy style Chair, year built unknown. This is a unique vehicle located in Proctor Minnesota. The vehicle has been obtained from a DWI forfeiture and has not been restored. Engine: Briggs and Stratton Model # 19070 Type: 5641 with electric start. Transmission type unknown and is sloppy. The vehicle has front lights, rear tag light, radio, cup holder, rear roll bars and other custom options, missing the seat cushion. Curb weight of vehicle is unknown, length is 52” and width is 45”. This is a great parade vehicle or a terrific business draw. Be the only one in town with a unique vehicle like this. This is not a street legal vehicle.

SHIPPING INFORMATION

This vehicle is local pick-up only. This vehicle can be pick-up at the City of Proctor, Minnesota Police Department by you or a transport company that you arrange Monday Thru Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. We will not ship nor arrange shipping.


The Motorized Chair is the DWI Forfeit Vehicle that has been reported by the news media worldwide and is being sold as- is and ownership will be transferred on a bill of sale.

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Motorized La-Z-Boy recliner used in DWI to be sold by police on eBay

Minneapolis, MN

Maybe there's someone who collects riding lawnmowers, motorized bar stools and other unlikely DWI vehicles.

If you've ever had the urge to cruise your neighborhood in a self-propelled La-Z-Boy, your opportunity has arrived. Minnesota resident Dennis Anderson (no relation to the Gravedigger monster truck franchise – we think) has forfeited his notorious motorized, and over-the-top modified, recliner chair involved in his DWI incident and crash recently is going on the eBay auction block later this week.

To recap, this masterpiece of motorized furniture isn't your average run-of-the-mill family room napper. This particular innovative and highly customized chair is fitted with a nitrous-boosted lawnmower engine good for a top speed in the neighborhood of 20 mph (it is fitted with a parachute... apparently in case you happen to drive off a cliff). Dual headlights help guide you home from the late nights at the bar, while an integrated stereo sound system will make you everyone's envy at the stop lights (maybe from the curb, as we don't think it is technically street legal).

While Mr. Anderson got off with two years of probation for his antics, his prized possession is sadly being liquidated – sans reserve price – thanks to a Minnesota law allowing police to auction vehicles seized in drunk-driving cases. So, what do you think it will go for?

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U.S Supreme Court DWI anonymous tipster ruling "not a problem" in NM

Farmington, NM

Anonymous tipsters: How do you prove the nonexistence of a rat?

The U.S. Supreme Court recently refused to hear a case where a drunken driver's conviction was overturned because the arresting officer pulled the driver over based on an anonymous tip.

It is not likely such a conviction would result in New Mexico, as officers are encouraged to rely on direct observation instead of anonymous tips when making a traffic stop, officials said.

Joseph A. Moses Harris was convicted of drunken driving after police in Richmond, Va., received an anonymous tip that he was driving intoxicated, but the arresting officer did not see Harris break any traffic laws.

"The decision below commands that police officers following a driver reported to be drunk do nothing until they see the driver actually do something unsafe on the road — by which time it may be too late," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his dissent.

The decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to refuse to hear the appeal is consistent with New Mexico state law, Chief Public Defender Christian Hatfield said.

"In order to detain a person for investigative purposes, the police have to have reasonable suspicion that a crime is about to or is being committed and that has to be based on articulable facts," Hatfield said. "Just a hunch is not good enough."

A majority of courts have said it doesn't violate the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure to pull over drunk drivers based on anonymous tips from programs like Drunk Busters,
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Roberts said.

But unless a tip is highly credible and specific, officers themselves are required to determine justification for a traffic stop.

"We don't pull people over just because someone reported seeing something that indicated they might

be impaired," San Juan County Undersheriff Mark McCloskey said.

Police locate the vehicle and observe it, looking for a traffic violation or driving maneuver that would indicate impairment, he said.

Indications of impairment that would establish reasonable suspicion are things such as driving too fast or too slow, straddling the shoulder line and weaving.

It's not absolutely necessary for an officer to see a violation, but the credibility of the tipster and the reliability of the information can be called into question, said Assistant District Attorney Chris Moander.

The traffic violation always is good but if other events such as specificity of a person, plate numbers and erratic behavior can be articulated by a tipster, an officer can develop a basis for a stop, Moander said.

A tip from another officer or a person giving detailed information about a possible drunken driver who is swerving and hit a pole would be better than a vague tip about a car that crossed the center line once.

"Generally speaking, if a cop gets a tip, it's a good idea to observe some bad driving as well," Hatfield said.

There are no limits on how long an officer can follow a driver to determine justification for a stop.

Nothing legally prohibits an officer from following a driver as long as they need in order to establish reasonable suspicion to pull the driver over or until the officer is satisfied there are no indications of impairment, McCloskey said.

"It's difficult, if not impossible to get a conviction in New Mexico courts if all you have is a third party report of a drunken driver and the officer hasn't observed that first hand," McCloskey said.

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Man pleads guilty to DWI in motorized La-Z-Boy

Proctor, MN

I wonder if also was issued a "no seatbelt" ticket as well....

A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to driving his motorized La-Z-Boy chair while drunk.

A criminal complaint says 62-year-old Dennis LeRoy Anderson told police he left a bar in the northern Minnesota town of Proctor on his chair after drinking eight or nine beers.

Prosecutors say Anderson's blood alcohol content was 0.29, more than three times the legal limit, when he crashed into a parked vehicle in August 2008. He was not seriously injured.

Police said the chair was powered by a converted lawnmower and had a stereo and cup holders.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Heather Sweetland stayed 180 days of jail time Monday and ordered two years of probation for Anderson. His attorney, David Keegan, did not immediately return a call for comment.

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Woman convicted of falsifying breathayzer records in Texas, DWI cases thrown out

Houston, TX

...more evidence that the dogmatic reliance on the accuracy of breath test machines is woefully over-placed...

Nearly 1,000 DWI convictions in Harris County could be re-tried, all thanks to one person's crime.

A former Department of Public Safety contractor, Deetrice Wallace, was convicted on Friday for faking inspection records of DPS breathalyzers. Wallace was originally contracted to make sure the breath test machines were working properly.

Now, prosecutors say about 1,000 drivers can petition for re-trials without the breath test evidence included.

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In Texas, 1,200 convictions for DWI in Houston to be set aside

Houston, TX

It's always bigger in Texas...

More than 1,200 driving while intoxicated convictions in Harris County are invalid after a contractor was convicted of faking inspections of alcohol breath testing devices, prosecutors said.

Deetrice Wallace, a Department of Public Safety contractor, told investigators that she had falsified inspections records for the South Houston and Clute police department intoxilyzers.

Wallace was prosecuted for three counts of tampering with a governmental record and on Friday was sentenced to a year in prison.

Harris County Assistant District Attorney Terese Buess said about 1,000 defendants convicted of DWI can petition for a retrial without evidence submitted by Wallace. Some defendants had more than one case affected.

Buess said Wallace manipulated the machines instead of changing the reference sample every month, and pocketed $146,000.

From 2002 until she was arrested in October 2008, Wallace handled DPS instruments that were used to determine alcohol concentration in DWI cases for at least seven police departments, including League City, Friendswood, Webster, Seabrook, Galveston, Clute and South Houston.

Buess said Wallace signed off on about 4,000 test slips. Of those, some did not result in convictions and others were not in Harris County. Buess did not know how other counties would address the problem. The prosecutor was not optimistic about seeking 1,200 convictions again because the office will not have test results, and other evidence has been destroyed, including videotapes.

DPS officials invalidated all breath tests recorded by intoxilyzers under Wallace's supervision because they could not pinpoint the date when her unethical behavior began.

Once contacted, the attorney of record will contact the defendant and determine if they want to try the case again. If the defendant wants a new trial, the district attorney's office will agree to it.

The case will then start over in the court where the conviction was obtained.

Buess said some defendants who were convicted of two DWIs and a felony DWI may get a clean slate after the dust clears. She said one defendant who will be able to get a new trial was sentenced to 60 years in prison for a felony DWI.

"It's just a massive problem that is not going to go away," Buess said. "It's a huge mess."

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DWI sobreity checkpont in St. Chalres nets 8 arrets

St. Charles

A no-refusal, blood-only DWI checkpoint in St. Charles County resulted in eight arrests Saturday, the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department reported.

Lt. Craig McGuire said officers from the Sheriff’s Department and the St. Peters Police Department stopped 982 vehicles at Highway 94 and Highway D between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. The results:

* Four arrests for Driving While Intoxicated
* Three driver’s license violations
* One arrest for failure to comply with law enforcement

Three people refused to give blood, McGuire said, so officers obtained warrants to draw blood. Sheriff’s Deputy Travis Jones said officers e-mailed the warrants to a prosecutor. The prosecutor then brought the warrant to a judge who was waiting at the Missouri Highway Patrol Headquarters to sign it.

The Eastern Missouri Police Academy, St. Charles County Department of Corrections, St. Charles County Ambulance District, and the St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office also participated.

Jones said traffic was stopped on Highway 94 for the first half of the check point and on both highways during the second half. He said officers chose that intersection because of a number of bad crashes nearby as well as its proximity to the wineries, a couple of bars and fishing spots where people have been known to drink all day.

Jones said the checkpoint cost between $1,000 and $2,000 for overtime pay. The money came from state grants.

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Refusal to blow - cops arrested for DWI follow an unwritten rule?

Staten Island, NY

It is interesting that cops don't follow the written rule: Don't drive drunk.

All too often, cops follow an unwritten rule if they're arrested for driving while drunk -- don't take the blood alcohol test, no way, no how.

As the circumstances surrounding the vehicular manslaughter arrest of NYPD Officer Andrew Kelly starkly illustrated this weekend, police officers often are unwilling to take a Breathalyzer test, or submit to a blood test, after they've been pulled over for drunken driving or gotten into a car crash.

Several law enforcement sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say they'd never blow into a Breathalyzer -- the risk of producing scientific evidence of inebriation is too great, and a drunken-driving conviction means they'll have to give up their badge.

"If you think you'd going to fail, you don't take the test," said one source.

Kelly, a seven-year veteran of the NYPD assigned to the 68th Precinct, struck and killed Vionique Valnord, the 33-year-old daughter of a Brooklyn pastor, as she crossed the street in the borough's Flatlands neighborhood.

Kelly refused to take a Breathalyzer test, and, the Daily News reported, it took authorities more than seven hours to administer a blood test, which showed no trace of alcohol.

Kelly's four passengers in his SUV left the scene of the crash. One of them, Michael Downs, a fellow police officer living in Eltingville, later turned himself in. Downs hasn't been charged criminally, but he has been suspended, and one police source said it's likely he'll lose his job.

Kelly's decision to refuse a Breathalyzer is hardly unique among police officers. "I would recommend to anybody, don't take the test. It's never going to help you, and it's just going to strengthen the case against you," said one veteran officer. "How do you know you're going to pass? They give false readings. It's not infallible."

Defense lawyer Mario Gallucci, who handles about70 drunken-driving cases a year, concurs.

A refusal means an automatic year-long license revocation, but Gallucci said it leaves a defendant with options.

"If you don't take the test, there's no machine that's going to be able to testify at a trial," he said.

In respect of the revocation, which is a state Department of Motor Vehicles rule, he said, "You're entitled to a hearing, and we win those hearings often."

Still, the decision to refuse a test doesn't always get a police officer out of hot water, as two Staten Island cases show.

In May 2007, Officer Gary Chin slammed his car into a boulder at the end of Hylan Boulevard, severely injuring his female passenger. He refused a blood alcohol test on the scene but ended up with a 90-day jail sentence, five years of probation and a one-year license revocation. He also lost his job as a police officer.

And in September 2007, Officer Richard Reebe crashed into a parked construction vehicle in West Brighton, then left the scene "without identifying himself and without exhibiting his license or insurance information," according to court papers. When his fellow officers caught up with him, he refused a blood alcohol test.

That following January, he pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated, in exchange for a conditional discharge, a $500 fine and a six-month revocation. He, too, lost his badge.

Seth Katz, a defense lawyer who specialized in motor vehicle and drunken-driving cases, actually advises the opposite of what's considered conventional wisdom by police -- take the test, especially on Staten Island, unless you already have a conviction on your record, or you're in a crash.

The borough's district attorney, Daniel Donovan, takes a hard line against drunken driving, and a refusal typically means prosecutors won't allow a defendant to plead to a lesser charge.

"They don't want to dispose of them as violations," Katz said, adding that prosecutors might be more amenable to a better deal if a defendant doesn't refuse a test.

With police officers, Katz said, the "blue wall" usually works to a cop's advantage in a drunken-driving case. "The ball will be dropped along the line."

Donovan, for his part, sees the Kelly case as clear reason to change the law in New York state to mandate blood tests on the spot at drunken-driving crashes. In a case with an accident or severe injury, authorities can take blood from an unconscious driver, Donovan explained, but if the motorist is conscious and refuses, police need to get a warrant first.

"I think if somebody refuses, we should be able to compel it automatically," Donovan said. "We have to prove that they're above the legal limit at the time of the occurrence."

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DWI arrests for 2 Fort Worth cops in 2 separate incidents result in both being fired

Fort Worth TX

The strangest line in the article: Both men had been with the police department since May 2, 2008.

Two Fort Worth police officers were fired today after charges of driving while intoxicated.

Officer E.G. Carr was arrested on Aug. 18 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated in his personal vehicle while off-duty in Keller. A dash cam video of the arrest shows Carr physically resisting while being handcuffed. His criminal case is pending, but Fort Worth police officials said his arrest and actions during the incident were cause for his termination.

"Officer Carr’s actions and behavior is a discredit to all of the hardworking men and women of the Fort Worth Police Department and will not be tolerated," Police Chief Jeff Halstead said in a news release.

Authorities said Officer P. Payton was terminated as a result of his conviction of driving while intoxicated Jan. 25 in North Richland Hills while off-duty. He was found guilty of the class B misdemeanor on Sept. 21.

Both men had been with the police department since May 2, 2008.

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