My DUI Story

[Riverman]

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.