My DUI Story
 

A few months ago, a friend and I have dinner and drinks at a sports bar near my house. We then go to a bar where his wife works, meet up with my wife, and continue drinking/chatting until closing time. We had about a 5 minute walk home but we were both hungry so we got in the car to go to steak and shake (horrible choice obviously). I probably had 7ish beers over the course of the night.

Immediately upon leaving I see the lights go on behind me. I pull over, license and registration, etc. I get the standard "have you been drinking?" I decline to respond. I am asked to do field sobriety tests, and I refuse those as well. The officer of course then asks if I am willing to take a breathalyzer and I say no to that too.

Then the cops (another car had shown up) start trying to scare me with all the penalties for not doing the tests, trying the "make it easy on yourself" line. They also try to get me talking by asking me questions like where were you going/coming from and where do you live. At this point I just stop talking completely and they handcuff me while still trying to threaten me into taking the tests. Get taken to the police station and eventually get released. I should say I was nice to the officers and responded with sirs and thank yous while not answering any of their questions.

The next week I got an attorney who is a former prosecutor who handles DUIs in my state. I had to go to an alcohol class that was actually kind of informative although I thought there was some overkill. A few weeks later I had my court date, at which the prosecutor agreed to reduce the charge to "failure to control." About a $250 fine and harsh penalties for any alcohol-related offenses in the next 6 months.

Re: My DUI Story
 

nice!

way to hold your ground. cops are masters at intimidation and getting people to do what they want. also masters at tripping people up on their story.

Re: My DUI Story
 

Riverman,

What maneuver caused him to pull you over in the first place? How impaired do you think you actually were? What was your total out-of-pocket including the lawyer, points on insurance, etc?

Re: My DUI Story
 

What you did is what any lawyer would tell their client to do.


How much did the lawyer end up costing?

Re: My DUI Story
 

The cop claimed I was swerving (not true), but I learned from the police report that a mall security guard (rent-a-cop) had called them when I left the bar. The 7 beers were over a good 5-6 hour period and I am 215 pounds, so I was far from hammered. I refused everything because I saw no benefit to providing them with evidence.

The attorney was a flat fee of $1500, plus about $500 in various fines/court costs. The offense I plead guilty to is a 2 point offense. My attorney said I had about a 90% chance of winning at trial, but the costs/risks of trial are huge so I took the deal.

Re: My DUI Story
 

Interesting story.

Is the same course of action reccomended for underage drivers who get pulled over after they've been drinking?
Obviously the first reccomendation would be "Don't", but assuming you get into that spot as a minor what do you do to minimize penalties?

Re: My DUI Story
 

[ QUOTE ]
The 7 beers were over a good 5-6 hour period and I am 215 pounds

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is true than there is absolutely 0% chance you would blow over .05 let alone legal limit, which makes me think either you are lying about the particulars and/or completely retarded.

Re: My DUI Story
 

HEY RIVERMAN YOU ARE A MENACE TO SOCIETY AND COULD HAVE KILLED MY DAUGHTER OR GRANDMA I THINK YOU SHOULD BE PUBLICLY EXECUTED!!!!!111!!!!!!11111!!!!

Re: My DUI Story
 

[ QUOTE ]
The cop claimed I was swerving (not true), but I learned from the police report that a mall security guard (rent-a-cop) had called them when I left the bar.

[/ QUOTE ]

i can understand you not wanting to cause a stink at your friend's wife's work, but have you considered calling the owner/manager and letting them know what happened? i imagine they would be concerned that a guard hired by them or their property manager is calling the police on their patrons.

tell them you unfortunately wont be drinking in their restaurant anymore since youre being watched and reported. i would imagine they would rather have the guard address the issue w/ the servers if the guard feels there's a problem.

Re: My DUI Story
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The 7 beers were over a good 5-6 hour period and I am 215 pounds

[/ QUOTE ]

If this is true than there is absolutely 0% chance you would blow over .05 let alone legal limit, which makes me think either you are lying about the particulars and/or completely retarded.

[/ QUOTE ]

1. I disagree.

2. I should admit the majority (all the ones I had after dinner) were pints, so they were a bit larger than normal beers.