You should see our gun "laws."
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[The full text of the unpublished court ruling is available in a 49k PDF file at the source link.]
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.
First, the man did not try to defend against the charge of his intoxication not being DUI. His defense was basically that the officer had no right to investigate him. The court was not presented with an argument that sitting at the parking lot with the engine running should not have been DUI.
Second, the article failed to mention that the man had his foot on the accelerator and the engine was racing while he was asleep. This makes his sleeping in the car seem a bit more dangerous.
Perhaps the moral of the story is if you are going to sleep it off you better climb in the back seat.
After my brother answered his first call where a family of four was killed by a drunk driver, his passion seemed to be to arrest as many DUI'ers as he could. He even risked his life using his car as to block a drunk once.
Yes.
Or, he could have been guilty of nothing more than "immaculate intoxication" ;-)
In California having your keys in the ignition, with the engine off is enough to convict you of DUI in this scenario.
Regards
You should see our gun "laws."
We don’t have this problem down south....we usually let down the tailgate and just sleep in the back of the truck. This way...ifing you have to throw up later....its easier to wash up off the steel bed than the fancy leather seats. The cops can’t say much because you simply admit to being cargo....not a passenger or driver.
In Florida, there are DUI convictions from operating motor boats and motorless bicycles. You receive exact same penalties as if operating an automobile.
“ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS follow the money.”
BINGO!! This is why the state could care less about illegal drunks...no percentage in busting THEM!!A taxpayer is far better game.
So if you get a DUI for riding a bicycle, does your Auto Insurance go up 150% for the next 5 years as well?
The cop was wrong and the court was wrong. Welcome to the fascist states of america.
“Perhaps the moral of the story is if you are going to sleep it off you better climb in the back seat.”
Probably not good enough. If you have the keys you would still be subject to DUI. Its happened but depends on the state.
The cop should have given him a ride or called a cab. That is the America I grew up in, not this police state that exist today.
That was the way it was for me too. Not this money hungry crap. As soon as local jurisdictions started getting federal money for each DUI pop the made, BYE-BYE went the friendly local cop...
or loaded him into the police car and taken him home.
Dont forget lawn mowers and horses.
Unregistered driver says he held pet in car with gun in pocket; both were imprisoned
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