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New Jersey Upholds DUI for a Man in Parked Vehicle
The Newspaper.com ^ | 8/28/2007 | staff reporter

Posted on 09/02/2007 3:22:06 AM PDT by Daffynition

New Jersey appellate court decision upholds a DUI for a man sleeping in a parked truck under the influence.

New Jersey Superior Court logoA New Jersey appellate court yesterday upheld the principle that convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) can be imposed on individuals who were not driving. David Montalvo, 36, found this out as he responsibly tried to sleep off his intoxication in his GMC pickup truck while safely stopped in the parking lot of the Market Place Deli on a cold February morning last year. At around 5am he awoke to see a Hamburg Police Department patrolman standing over him. The officer had opened the door of Montalvo's truck to rouse the man and insist that he take a breathalyzer test. Montalvo refused.

He was arrested and forced to make a conditional guilty plea to the charge of DUI, intending to challenge the police officer's actions as a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Montalvo's attorney argued that the patrolman could have no reasonable grounds to suspect that a sleeping man was involved in criminal activity. Montalvo's truck was running, in park, because according to weather records it was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit that Saturday morning.

"From the perspective of the officer on the scene, I don't find at all that what he was doing was unreasonable," Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. said in his rejection of Montalvo's argument. "In fact, I find it would have been unreasonable to have stopped his inquiries at any point short of what he did."

The appellate court agreed that the officer was acting reasonably to render assistance to someone who may have been in distress.

"The officer wanted to make sure the driver was 'okay,' nothing was wrong with the businesses and that the truck was operating properly," the appellate decision concluded. "We are convinced that under the facts as observed by Officer Aaronson defendant was lawfully subject to limited inquiry based upon an objectively reasonable exercise of the officer's community caretaking function."

The appellate division affirmed Montalvo's DUI conviction, meaning the sleeping motorist faces a civil remedial fee or "driver responsibility" tax of $3000 in addition to various other fines and fees of at least $1000, plus his legal bills.

[The full text of the unpublished court ruling is available in a 49k PDF file at the source link.]


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; US: New Jersey
KEYWORDS: donutwatch; dui; neoprohibition; publicintoxication; revenuetickets
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To: Will_Zurmacht
I’m no fan of drunks but it seems the cop could have just called the guy a cab.
Back in the day, I pulled out of a bar's parking lot and got my car stuck in a snow bank.
A few minutes later a cop rolled up, called for a tow truck and gave me a ride home.
121 posted on 09/02/2007 7:59:59 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: OCCASparky

Yup. Keys in the ignition is the killer here. Car running or not.

When the keys are in the ignition you are presumed to be “in control” of your “vehicle”.


122 posted on 09/02/2007 8:05:44 AM PDT by djf (America welcomes immigrants! Sadly, America welcomes crimmigrants even more...)
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To: napscoordinator
Au contraire. This guy needs to be in jail for stupidity.
123 posted on 09/02/2007 8:06:36 AM PDT by Daffynition (The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear.)
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To: JSDude1
The most corrupt state in the nation; what do you expect?

Hey, I represent that remark! (And what about Louisiana?)

124 posted on 09/02/2007 8:10:47 AM PDT by JimRed ("Hey, hey, Teddy K., how many girls did you drown today?" TERM LIMITS, NOW!)
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To: cubswinby100

“”Anyone who would defend a drunk driver thinks crime is ok and would defend a child rapist.””

“”Another fan of drunk drivers. Thinks murder is okay and yes if you think drunk driving is okay since they often murder people you are fine with murder.
I pray you have no children.””

“”So you go out drinking and gleefully get into a car intent on driving home if you kill someone who cares?””

“”ANother person who loves drunk drivers and killers.””

“”Another defender of drunk drivers another person who thinks killing is ok. Is killing while drunk driving your favorite crime?””

“”No drunk driving murder lover the responsible thing and what every person who has a shred of decency does IS NOT DRIVE.
Please tell me you live nowhere near me in Illinois since you love those drunk drivers. If my family was killed you’d say “WOO HOO! A DRUNK DRIVER KILLS AGAIN! YEA DRUNK DRIVER!”””

“”Yes who cares if the guy was a drunk who went out for the purpose of killing people as everyone who drives drunk does “”


WOO HOO! I’m always gleefully drunk when I drive home from my pro-child rapist rallies, but only rarely do I give the DUI cheer of
“WOO HOO! A DRUNK DRIVER KILLS AGAIN! YEA DRUNK DRIVER!”””


125 posted on 09/02/2007 8:11:23 AM PDT by ansel12 (Paranoia, conspiracy, superiority, otherness, pod people "The Invasion" 2007)
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To: Daffynition

Man what a goof. Some Americans are really insane.


126 posted on 09/02/2007 8:13:07 AM PDT by napscoordinator
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To: Daffynition
I guess If I'm ever in that situation I'll just drive home, since I'll get arrested either way.

What a crock of sh!t.

127 posted on 09/02/2007 8:13:57 AM PDT by lesser_satan (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: lesser_satan

Someone earlier in the thread posted that one could receive a DWI for operating a bicycle in FL after drinking. This struck me as particularly funny considering that in Amsterdam, half of the people riding their bicycles (which is an absolutely astonishing number by the way) are coming from the bar!


128 posted on 09/02/2007 8:18:48 AM PDT by 24track (My attitude is attitude)
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To: 24track

I used to ride my bike to the bar (and home, drunk) all the time when I was younger.


129 posted on 09/02/2007 8:26:31 AM PDT by lesser_satan (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: driftdiver

It’s even happened for someone sleeping in his driveway listening to his car stereo.


130 posted on 09/02/2007 8:26:31 AM PDT by weegee (NO THIRD TERM. America does not need another unconstitutional Clinton co-presidency.)
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To: DelphiUser
He had been arrested for DUI. The truck was not running, the keys were in his pocket and he was sitting in the passenger side of the truck. The logic was he had the keys and could drive at any time.

This is so totally wrong. It's also a sign of America becoming an injust police state.

What's the next step? You have to wonder whether it's hauling people over at random and charging them with attempted murder because they have the means (a car, a hunting gun, a rock in their front yard) and "could murder at any time."

131 posted on 09/02/2007 8:26:47 AM PDT by Luke Skyfreeper
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To: cubswinby100

Did you know that studies show that 92.7% of those posting shrilly and irrationally to Internet forums have been drinking?


132 posted on 09/02/2007 8:29:27 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: Daffynition
Notonlyo was not only not driving - he was in a parking lot = NOT on a public road.

Since when can one be arrested for DUI, sleeping in a parking lot?

This is scary for us all - it sets a precedent =

133 posted on 09/02/2007 8:31:20 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ( "...but you can't fool all of the people all the time." LINCOLN)
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To: Daffynition
We’re just frogs in pot of water with the heat turned on low ... for now.

It's higher than you think.

134 posted on 09/02/2007 8:33:26 AM PDT by Clint Williams (Read Roto-Reuters -- we're the spinmeisters!)
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To: AmericaUnited
But... the guy made the big mistake of having the vehicle running.

Ahhh? It was below freezing.........are you saying he would've been better off to have taken the chance of never waking up =

135 posted on 09/02/2007 8:33:51 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ( "...but you can't fool all of the people all the time." LINCOLN)
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To: John Leland 1789
I believe it would have different had the man not cranked the pickup.

It would not have. Sometime back in the 80s a friend got a DUI though he was sleeping in a non-running car.

136 posted on 09/02/2007 8:35:06 AM PDT by Clint Williams (Read Roto-Reuters -- we're the spinmeisters!)
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To: Daffynition

Our society is slowing being strangled to death by attorneys and their litigious lack of common sense and public good.


137 posted on 09/02/2007 8:36:50 AM PDT by pierstroll
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To: John Leland 1789
With the motor running, the drunk was in fact operating a motor vehicle under the influence. I believe it would have different had the man not cranked the pickup.

He was still NOT on a public road = or road of any kind. The truck was "cranked" as it was below freezing and the guy had enough sense to know that, without heat, he could wake up dead, as it were.

The truck was in park...and on private property.

This precedent should alarm us all. Under this, one could be arrested and so charged sitting in their own driveway = or even inside the house if, as one poster posited, they "had the keys" to their vehicle "in their pocket" = Sound far fetched? Not a big stretch from what happened here.

138 posted on 09/02/2007 8:40:47 AM PDT by maine-iac7 ( "...but you can't fool all of the people all the time." LINCOLN)
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To: Daffynition
I suspect the driver was dumb enough to have his keys in the ignition, that’s probably what made the States case. That is usually the big factor in prosecuting cases like these.
139 posted on 09/02/2007 8:40:59 AM PDT by cmsgop (Hillary's Milkshake is better than Your's, She could teach you, but you would rather go blind.......)
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To: Arthur McGowan

Was the man sitting behind the wheel? or in the front passenger seat? I suspect that if he had been sitting in the front passenger seat, he might have won his case.


140 posted on 09/02/2007 8:45:12 AM PDT by quadrant
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