[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.

[Clint Williams]

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.

[maine-iac7]

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.

[Arthur McGowan]

You have a point--i.e., about the motor running.

Whatever happened to mens rea? The guy certainly made it clear he was sleeping precisely in order to avoid driving drunk.

[Freedom4US]

It doesn’t matter if the engine is running or not, but it helps to make a citation. Sleeping in the back seat probably won’t matter either.

[unixfox]

With the motor running, the drunk was in fact operating a motor vehicle under the influence.

Pfft... prove it. The vehicle WAS NOT MOVING, why is that hard to understand?

I'm sitting in front of my computer while it is running, and...I'm drinking, does that make it an S.U.I., Surfing Under the Influence?