DUI Punishment

August 8, 2016

A Natural Way to Discourage DUIs?

Police officers, prosecutors and judges can get discouraged when they’re trying to reduce the number of DUIs in Los Angeles. Some people never seem to get the message about the dangers they pose to themselves and other people.

But Noah Elkins of Laurel County, Kentucky, had the message about the dangers of DUI driving brought home in a stinging way—literally. On Tuesday, July 26th, Elkins and a passenger, 35-year-old Priscilla Simpson, were driving around looking for a place to swim and cool off. Since they were reportedly under the influence of several drugs, including Suboxone, neurotin and Klonopin, Elkins apparently had trouble controlling the car. The vehicle crashed into an electric pole, which fell over and took out a beehive.

The swarm of bees was not happy about the disruption to their day. According to TV station WKYT, they went after Elkins and Simpson (who was wearing a bikini bathing suit at the time). A local resident, Gary Lee Anderson, saw them running up his driveway, where they grabbed the hose and tried to spray water on themselves to get the bees off of them.
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July 25, 2016

Bad Parking Job Leads to DUI Arrest

by Michael Kraut

When police officers are out on patrol looking for drivers who might be DUI in Los Angeles, they watch for vehicles weaving in and out of traffic, veering over the center line and blowing through stop signs and other traffic signals.
In Sommers, Connecticut, however, it was a poor parking job that gave an intoxicated driver away. A passing motorist noticed that the car driven by 56-year-old Brian Benoit of Hampden, Massachusetts, was parked perpendicular to the side of the road. Fearing there had been a crash, the motorist called police. Police found Benoit unhurt but in no condition to pass the field sobriety test that they administered. They charged him with DUI.

Law enforcement officials in South Burlington, Vermont, would probably have preferred finding an oddly parked car to what they did discover when they answered a report of suspicious activity on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-July. They found 58-year-old William Harman sitting nude inside his parked car. Harman may not have even been aware that his clothing had somehow disappeared; his blood alcohol content measured .235, almost triple the legal limit. Police charged him with DUI as well.

July 20, 2016

DUI Firefighter Will Cost City $5 Million

by Michael Kraut

Courts don’t hold a city responsible when an off-duty employee drinks too much and faces charges of DUI. But if that city employee is DUI in Los Angeles when on the job, the result could be costly for his/her employer.

One recent example comes from San Francisco. The City is about to approve a $5 million settlement in the case of firefighter Michael Quinn. In June 2013, Quinn was driving a fire truck in the city’s South of Market district when he collided with motorcyclist Jack Frazier. The crash, which left Frazier with serious injuries, took place around 11:30 p.m.

TV station KRON 4 reports that police arrested Quinn on suspicion of DUI and on leaving the scene of the crash. The grand jury indicted him almost nine months later on three felony counts of driving under the influence causing injury, driving with a BAC of 0.08 percent or higher causing injury and driving a commercial motor vehicle with a BAC of .04 percent or higher causing injury.

In March 2015, a judge ruled that the BAC evidence against Quinn was inadmissible because the fire department’s breathalyzer used by to measure Quinn’s BAC was not calibrated to police standards. Prosecutors are still pursuing the case against him, however.

July 20, 2016

Spokane Prosecutor Gets Tough on DUI Drivers

by Michael Kraut

In 2014, 9,967 people in the U.S. lost their lives in DUI-related crashes. Of that number, 882 deaths occurred in California, with some of those due to Los Angeles DUIs. But these figures don’t reflect the number of people whose lives are affected by DUI drivers, the victims’ families and friends as well as those injured in crashes involving alcohol or drugs.

Larry Haskell, the prosecutor in Spokane, Washington, has had enough. He recently announced changes to the DUI guidelines in his county that will make it tougher for drivers accused of driving under the influence to escape punishment. The changes are an attempt to reverse the rising number of DUIs, vehicular homicides and vehicular assaults in the county; to date, there have been 729 DUI arrests in the county this year, 323 more than at the same time in 2015.

Haskell also noted that over the Fourth of July holiday, police arrested 30 people for DUIs, and almost half (13) had previous DUI convictions.

July 13, 2016

Charges Dismissed, Accused DUI Driver Sues Prosecutors

by Michael Kraut

It’s rare for drivers to file suit when prosecutors or a judge dismiss a charge of DUI in Los Angeles. In Bozeman, Montana, however, a man once charged with felony vehicular homicide in his wife’s death is seeking his day in court.

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, prosecutors had accused Michael Soule of killing his wife, Jennifer Soule, in a January 2012 crash. They alleged that he had been driving his truck up to 103 miles per hour on I-90 and that his blood alcohol content was 0.231. The charges also stated that Soule had marijuana and cocaine in his system.

In 2013, before the case came to trial, Soule took a plea agreement that allowed him to avoid jail time. But Gallatin County District Court Judge Mike Salvagni refused to accept the plea, and Soule withdrew his agreement. When the case came before Judge Salvagni, he dismissed the charges, saying that Montana Highway Patrol troopers had failed to preserve evidence; they had performed a warrantless search of Michael Soule’s hospital room; and they had taken photos of his injuries without permission from his family or the hospital. He also noted that the Montana state crime lab’s official BAC test showed that Soule’s BAC measured 0.07, which is under the legal limit. While a urine screening at the hospital turned up positive for marijuana and cocaine, the state police never did a blood alcohol test to confirm those findings.

July 5, 2016

Man Loses Legs in DUI Collision

by Michael Kraut

All too often drivers arrested for DUI in Los Angeles may come away from a crash unscathed while some innocent bystander suffers life-threatening or life-changing injuries. The latest out-of-state example comes from Denver, where a 19-year old under the influence of drugs crushed the legs of a man in a DUI-related crash.

Denver Channel 7 reported that 19-year old Dylan Gottschling was driving under the influence of two drugs—heroin and Xanax—when he slammed into the back of a parked SUV on July 4th. The SUV, pushed forward, struck another vehicle; unfortunately, Craig Towler had been standing between them.

The crash pinned Towler and crushed his two legs. To save his life, physicians had to amputate both legs below the knee.

Gottschling, arrested for DUI, reckless driving and vehicular assault, admitted he had been trying to change music on his phone when he hit the SUV. But police think there was more involved; they also charged the teen with texting while driving.

June 28, 2016

Riding Under the Influence Okay In Kansas

by Michael Kraut

Drivers who lose their licenses after a conviction for DUI in Los Angeles have several alternative forms of transportation they can use to get around. But if they’ve been drinking to the point of intoxication, one choice they don’t want to make is getting on a bicycle. Under California Vehicle Code 21200.5, riding a bicycle under the influence of alcohol or drugs is a misdemeanor; while the maximum fine ($250) is a lot lower than it is for driving a motor vehicle under the influence, anyone arrested for this offense may still lose their driver’s license.

But the State of Kansas doesn’t take the same dim view of riding a bicycle while intoxicated. A recent story in the Wichita Eagle noted that under state law, devices moved by human power aren’t considered vehicles, so the laws on DUI don’t apply. In the City of Wichita, however, ordinances do define bicycles as vehicles, so the city’s DUI laws do apply. Operating a bicycle under the influence of drugs or alcohol in Wichita can get you two days in jail or 100 hours of community service plus fines ranging from $750 to $1,000 for a first offense.

June 28, 2016

Study Confirms Uber Reduces DUI Arrests

by Michael Kraut

Could more widespread use of Uber cut the number of arrests for DUIs in Los Angeles and reduce injuries due to DUI accidents as well? Two university researchers have conducted extensive research suggesting that it has had that effect in dozens of jurisdictions in the U.S.

According to the Federalist, Angela Dills from Providence College and Sean Mullholland from Stonehill College looked at the impact Uber had made on 150 cities and counties over a three-year period. They found that when Uber enters an area, the rates of DUI arrests and traffic fatalities go down. So, too, do the arrest rates for assault and disorderly conduct.

The authors also found that Uber continues to have a positive effect even after its initial introduction: “For each additional year of operation, Uber’s continued presence is associated with a 16.6 percent decline in vehicular fatalities.”

June 15, 2016

DUI Drivers Injure Workers on Road Construction Sites: An Unnerving Survey

by Michael Kraut

Road construction workers have fairly terrifying jobs. They not only operate and move around heavy equipment weighing 10 tons or more (often much more); they also must work while vehicles just a few feet away hurtle past them at 50 and 60 miles per hour. Add to that mix a driver who’s operating a vehicle under the influence of drugs or alcohol—enough to qualify him/her for a DUI in Los Angeles—and you’ve made a difficult situation even more dangerous.

According to New Orleans’ Times-Picayune, Earl William Maugham, Jr., caused serious injuries to four people at a construction site on US 61 in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. He first sideswiped an unoccupied Ford Truck, which he should have noticed, since it was flashing white and amber strobe lights marking the work zone. Then he slammed into a John Deere backhoe. The backhoe driver wasn’t injured, but Maugham continued on, jumping two raised center median curbs and eventually hitting four workers. Emergency workers took them to the hospital with moderate to severe injuries.
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June 6, 2016

Terrifying Highway Encounter: Unlicensed DUI Teen Leads Police on High Speed Chase

by Michael Kraut

A growing number of drivers charged with DUI in Los Angeles and throughout California have been accused of operating under the influence of some drug other than alcohol. In one recent case in Los Banos, California, police arrested a young driver and charged him with operating under the influence of marijuana.

On Friday, May 28th, Los Banos police officers investigating a crash on Dove Street at Highway 165 called on the California Highway Patrol for assistance. According to the Merced Sun Star, a Los Banos officer had pulled over a 1998 Ford Windstar after he saw it swerving on the road. The driver did pull over and opened the sliding door of the vehicle, but then took off at high speed. The officer, who said the vehicle smelled strongly of pot, pursued the vehicle for a short distance, but it drove into an irrigation ditch and hit a dirt embankment.