Charged with a DUI When I Wasn’t Driving

GaryM said:
I think the way to avoid that problem is to unlock your car, then put the keys somewhere far away and reasonably inaccessible so that you could make the case that you did not have the ability to start or drive the car before you go back to sleep in the vehicle.
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Much easier all around to not be an ass-hat that gets kicked out of the house snd has to sleep in the car, doncha think? ;) Call me a good husband if you must, but that seems like a far better way “to avoid that problem.”
 
Sanctimonious or not, I don’t see a judge looking favorably on this situation. And sadly, the 0.19 blow is now public record.

:frown:
 
So I had this lengthy point counter point post ready to go - and I decided to delete it. Short answer: I take fatherhood and parenting seriously. When I see some do wretched parenting and whose only remorse is the fear of paying the consequence I shake my head. When I see some defend and justify I wonder what world they live or have lived in.

This was posted in a pilot's forum - but flying / having a PPL pales in comparison to what else is going on here.
 
Morgan3820 said:
It is a reasonable guess to me that if the LEO charged the OP with DWI and child endangerment, he did so because those laws exist in that state. He might be able to plea down to a lesser charge but, baring some procedural issue, it will be hard walk away on this, I think. Some states (NY) if the supervising driver blows more than 0.18 BAC it is a felony.
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I'd actually disagree on whether it's reasonable to assume that just because a LEO cited/arrested OP for those issues that they're actually viable charges. Prosecutors make those charging decisions, and judge/juries decide if they're right. Police officers, especially traffic cops, routinely have a pretty rudimentary understanding of the law, especially when it comes to nuanced issues like this. Police also routinely detain or arrest people for things that aren't actually crimes, even though the officer "believes" it might be. Examples of this can be pretty easily found, for example, the numerous videos online of police arresting people for public photography or for refusing to identify themselves. Police have a hard job, and I don't envy it, but they're not lawyers or judges and a detailed and nuanced understanding of the law simply isn't in their wheelhouse.
 
I find it shocking that someone with a BAC of .019 made such bad decisions.

wait, no I don’t. This is exactly why it’s a bad idea to drink that much under any circumstances. I find it odd that people can’t see that the bad decision was to drink that much in the first place. The rest are just consequences.
 
Salty said:
I find it shocking that someone with a BAC of .019 made such bad decisions.

wait, no I don’t.
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I mentioned this in another thread and it fits here: "better choices = better results." Can't change what has happened but lessons can be learned from it.
 
OP, I cannot answer your question, but hope this is a wake-up call for you. Your behavior could ruin your life, your family's life, and/or someone else's. Regardless of the legal case, please consider leaving the crowd whose peer pressure made you drink that much, then changing your lifestyle (how about going dry for good?). Good luck to you and your kid.
 
bradg33 said:
I'd actually disagree on whether it's reasonable to assume that just because a LEO cited/arrested OP for those issues that they're actually viable charges. Prosecutors make those charging decisions, and judge/juries decide if they're right. Police officers, especially traffic cops, routinely have a pretty rudimentary understanding of the law, especially when it comes to nuanced issues like this. Police also routinely detain or arrest people for things that aren't actually crimes, even though the officer "believes" it might be. Examples of this can be pretty easily found, for example, the numerous videos online of police arresting people for public photography or for refusing to identify themselves. Police have a hard job, and I don't envy it, but they're not lawyers or judges and a detailed and nuanced understanding of the law simply isn't in their wheelhouse.
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Normally I would agree with you. But when it comes to drunk driving, I think the cops have it pegged pretty closely because they get challenged in court all the time. Drunk driving prosecutions are a very lucrative source of revenue for the criminal justice system.

All of this is just a friendly discussion anyway because I think that the OP checked out early on when he didn’t get what he wanted to hear. I think that sooner or later the FAA is going to find out about this, and he’s not gonna be flying for a while. I feel sorry for the 16-year-old boy. As I said in my first post I hope he can learn from his fathers failures.
 
Of course, he might have been charged properly with DUI, or he might have been charged with a DUI-like drunken supervision charge and just didn't relate it properly here.
 
Salty said:
I find it odd that people can’t see that the bad decision was to drink that much in the first place. The rest are just consequences.
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"The flight through IMC was unremarkable until the aircraft impacted a prominent terrain feature..."

(I have a little file of idiotic NTSB and FAA quotes.)
 
One of my favorite movie quotes "If the rule you followed brought you to this place, of what use was the rule?"
 
Yep. I first thought it was "road" rather than "rule", but it works either way. When people reach a point of achievement in their lives, they're reminded that it was hard work and a series of good decisions that brought them to that place. As pilots, we should get that the common item in most accident chain is poor choices, but it's easier to point outward on a bad outcome than look back and question the decision process that led us to the place we're in. Nod to Gann, luck plays a part, but luck shouldn't be part of the plan.
 
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