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Tag: DWI

  • Pedestrian Lodged in Windshield Dies

    Pedestrian Lodged in Windshield Dies

    A pedestrian who was hit by a car in southern New Jersey, and then stuck in the windshield as the driver continued down the highway for over a mile has died.

    Ocean County prosecutors said Kenneth Moeller, 61, of Lanoka Harbor, died Monday night, a week after he was hit on a highway shoulder. The driver of the vehicle was Marcos Ortega, 33, who kept moving for roughly 1.5 miles after the collision, before being pulled over by police. The incident occurred on November 10 in Ocean Township.

    Ortega, of Little Egg Harbor, was initially charged with leaving the scene of an accident and causing serious bodily injury to another while driving under the influence. Since Moeller has died, Ortega now faces more serious charges, and is being held on $250,000 cash bail, with no ten percent option. It is unclear if Ortega has hired an attorney.

    Prosecutors said that authorities had received reports of a man driving erratically, with what looked like another man lying on the hood of his car. When police finally pulled Ortega over, Moeller was discovered to be lodged half way into the windshield. Blood samples were taken from Ortega at the scene, and the results are pending.

    DUI and alcohol-related vehicular incidents cause an estimated $45 billion in damages every year. A blood alcohol content assessment in excess of a state’s given threshold dictates a criminal offense with no need to prove impairment. In New Jersey, a person is guilty of drunk driving if he or she operates a motor vehicle with a BAC of 0.08 percent or greater.

    One can be arrested for operating an animal while intoxicated as well. A Boulder, Colorado man was arrested after riding his horse, Dillon, while under the influence last September. Drunken horse rider Patrick Schumacher was arrested on misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty, prohibited use of weapons and reckless endangerment. Fortunately, no one was injured in that incident.

  • Dina Lohan: Lindsay Lohan’s Mom Sentenced for 2013 DWI

    Dina Lohan was sentenced on Tuesday for her 2013 drunk driving charges. The mom of actress Lindsay Lohan was sentenced to 100 hours of community service as well a a one-year suspension of her drivers’ license. When she does drive again she is subject to the use of an interlock device that will only allow her car to start if she is sober. In addition she must participate in drunk driving classes and serve on a victim’s impact panel.

    Lohan was arrested last year in Oyster Bay, New York, for driving her car 22 miles per hour over the posted speed limit. Her blood alcohol level was 0.2 percent at the time of her arrest. Dina pleaded guilty last month and accepted a plea deal.

    Mark Jay Heller is Dina Lohan’s lawyer. He sent the following statement to ABC News.

    “In spite of the fact that the District Court of Nassau County dispenses the sternest DWI Sentences in America, which traditionally provides for a period of incarceration and three years of Probation, Dina Lohan’s Sentence did not provide for any period of incarceration or Probation, in light of Dina Lohan’s exemplary record with no prior arrest history and in deference to the Nassau County Screening Evaluation of Ms. Lohan which concluded that she has no alcohol or substance abuse issues,” the statement read.

    He continued, “Clearly, it was recognized that Dina Lohan has been a life-long resident of Nassau County, a good and loving Parent to four children and the arrest was borne out of an isolated act of indiscretion on the occasion of her 50th Birthday. Dina Lohan is happy to put this unfortunate event behind her.”

    How nice that Dina Lohan’s lawyer is making big bucks to make excuses for his client. Is it any wonder that Lindsay Lohan turned out the way she did? Dina Lohan is a train wreck who makes excuse after excuse for both herself and her daughter and ought to be completely ashamed of her parenting skills.

    The only blessing in this entire court case is that no innocent victim was injured or killed at the hands of Dina Lohan. Inevitably she would have paid her way out of that kind of situation, too.

    The judge who sentenced Lohan was quick to respond to the statement her attorney made in court, noting that she created her own destiny with regard to this drunk driving case.

    “The only person responsible for this onerous ordeal is Ms. Lohan herself,” the judge said. “Fortunately, you didn’t kill anybody or kill yourself. If there’s a next time, you might not be so lucky.”

    “There won’t be a next time,” Lohan replied.

    Might Dina Lohan one day eat those words?

    Image via YouTube

  • Sober Driver Arrested For Drunk Driving

    Sober Driver Arrested For Drunk Driving

    On February 20th, 2013, Milwaukee County Deputy Joseph Quiles, with the airport division of the Sheriff’s Office, was working night shift by General Mitchell International Aiport. After making his rounds patrolling, he blew through a stop sign on to Howell Avenue, and t-boned a Camry, sending it spinning and crashing into a tree.

    The driver, 25-year-old Tanya Weyker wound up with a broken neck in four places, nearly paralyzing her, and was placed under five separate charges including drunk driving .

    She wasn’t drunk.

    “It was a miracle I wasn’t paralyzed.” Weyker told a Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Deputy.

    Weyker was injured so badly in the accident that she couldn’t even blow into a breathalyzer or perform sobriety tests.  For over a year, the DWI charges lingered over Weyker, despite blood tests proving she was sober.

    As the ambulance was treating her neck injuries, she was questioned by officers.

    “One asked if I had anything to drink that night,” Weyker told WITI, “And I told them a few sips from a friend’s drink.”

    In his official police report, Quilles wrote that he had stopped at the stop sign and checked both ways before proceeding, mentioning to a Milwaukee police officer that he didn’t see any coming headlights, despite Wekyer’s Camry having automatic lights.

    The report is contradictory to the video via a nearby surveillance camera: Quilles’s squad car turned before making a complete stop.

    While at the hospital, blood samples were taken from Weyker by doctors; tests later proved that there was no alcohol in her system. Yet despite this, months passed before the charges against Wyeker were dropped by the district attorney.

    Wekyer has filed a complaint against the deputy, which could lead to a lawsuit against the county; she is still waiting for the state to pay her medical bills since the crash.

    Quilles is waiting on a permanent duty disability claim.

    Images via YouTube

  • Vikings Wide Receiver Jerome Simpson Arrested on DWI Charge

    Jerome Simpson, wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, was arrested early Saturday morning on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

    It all started when a Minnesota State Patrol trooper responded to a report of a stalled vehicle on Interstate 394 heading west out of downtown Minneapolis. When the trooper arrived, Simpson got out of the stalled red Dodge Charger. The trooper observed that Simpson’s speech was slurred and his eyes were watery.

    Simpson said he’d been at the Pour House, a popular downtown Minneapolis bar, and despite his claims not to have been drinking, the trooper administered a field sobriety test. Obviously the test didn’t go so well for Simpson, because he was arrested and later booked at the Hennepin County jail where he refused to take a breath test.

    He was released Saturday afternoon on $12,000 bond.

    The Vikings issued a bare-bones statement regarding the incident: “The Vikings are aware of the matter involving Jerome Simpson. We are continuing to gather information and will have further comment at the appropriate time.”

    This isn’t the first time Simpson has had a run-in with the law. In fact, he’s currently serving out three years of probation from an incident that occurred in September, 2011. At the time, Simpson was playing for the Cincinnati Bengals and living in a Kentucky suburb. A special task force tracked a 2-1/2 pound package of marijuana from a Sacramento, California mail sorting facility to Simpson’s townhome.

    Simpson was a little more forthcoming during that incident. He allowed police to search the premises. They found another six pounds of marijuana and empty parcels, scales, and packaging materials. According to Tommy LaNier, head of the National Marijuana Initiative, the house appeared to be “set up as a potential distribution network.”

    The NFL responded by suspending Simpson for three games in accordance with their substance abuse policy. The suspension came immediately after Simpson had signed on for a year with the Vikings. At the time, Vikings general manager Rick Spielman stood by his new wide receiver:

    “We did a lot of research. I think you guys know us well enough now that we have had success with guys with character issues that have come into this organization and have been very productive, not only on the field but as citizens.”

    Spielman was careful not to condone Simpson’s actions, though: “Every person we talked to stood by the kid’s character. Not standing by the mistake he made, but by what this kid’s character is …”

    As far as his performance on the field goes, Simpson didn’t let the Vikings down. Though he has yet to score a touchdown, he leads the team with 491 yards receiving this season.

    Some Vikings fans are hoping that the fall-out from Simpson’s weekend arrest will result in increased playing time for first round draft pick Cordarrelle Patterson.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Actor Wes Studi Arrested for DWI

    Actor Wes Studi Arrested for DWI

    The Hollywood Reporter tells us that actor Wes Studi was arrested early Friday morning for aggravated DWI in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

    Celebrities getting arrested for driving while intoxicated is nothing shocking. Usually the presumption is that they were at some Hollywood mixer or other bacchanalian affair, had a couple of glasses of wine, then tried to drive home, having the misfortune of running in with John Q. Law along the way. A quick lawyer-up and some community service time later, it’s all forgiven.

    But Studi’s case got a bit more bizarre in the re-telling.

    Santa Fe police say that Studi was arrested at 1:00 a.m. on Friday. He was stopped at a stop sign. But he was in a black 2005 Volvo with the front two tires blown out. Studi could not explain why both front tired were blown in his car. Actually, Studi could not explain much of anything. According to police, Studi was not just a little over the limit, slightly tipsy. He was sloshed.

    When the officer asked Studi to step out of the car, the report states that the 66-year-old actor “needed to use the vehicle to keep his balance and then stumbled to (the officer’s) patrol vehicle.”

    The report further stated that Studi’s breath smelled of alcohol, that he was confused and combative, and that he could not tell officers where he was going or why his tires were blown out.

    Studi refused breathalyzer and field sobriety tests. In many states, possession of a driver’s license gives law enforcement the presumption that you consent to those tests. Then reusing them is often cause for arrest. Stiudi was indeed arrested and placed on a $3,000 bond.

    Wes Studi is a Native American actor famous for his roles in movies like Dances With Wolves, Last of the Mohicans, Avatar, Heat, Mystery Men, and Geronimo.

    Back in April, Studi was inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Hall of Great Western Performers in Oklahoma City.

  • San Francisco Police Use Faulty Equipment

    KCBS in San Francisco reported on a case of their local police officers not testing their equipment per official procedure before relying on them to make judgements in the field. The devices in question are their breathalyzers which they employ in alcohol related incidents where they need to gage how much alcohol an individual has ingested.

    In many cases, breathalyzers are the only thing standing between a motorists freedom and a jail cell. Apparently the devices the San Francisco Police Department uses are supposed to be calibrated against a standard every ten days. The results are recorded in a log book and used to verify accuracy if ever called into question. If they are like 100% of other test devices being used in various markets, deviations from the standard prompts users to either have them re-calibrated or discontinue use.

    An Attorney, Peter Fitzpatrick discovered the discrepancy while defending a client last year. Apparently the preliminary findings are that this misuse of the devices goes back at least a decade. San Francisco District Attorney, George Gascon commented on the discovery and was of the opinion that it wasn’t a malicious act by officers, but rather an act of laziness.

    Here’s KCBS’s video coverage on the neglect:

    The San Francisco public defenders office requests that anyone who feels they have been a victim of these faulty devices to contact their office. The phone number is (415) 553-1081. This is a serious problem especially if you have been convicted of DWI based on readings from these devices. Obviously, the public defenders office isn’t going to hear your complaint if you were grossly over the limit, but for some there will be cause for the cases to be reopened.

    This is a serious offense by law enforcement, if you are not qualified to use a piece of equipment, or misuse it, you shouldn’t be allowed to handle it. This is going to cost tax payers in the San Francisco area a lot of money. I hope there is some follow-up on this ten year long case of neglect. Shameful!