Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

A Common Scenario

Here's a common DWI arrest scenario that often leaves the suspect driver baffled. The officer pulls the driver's vehicle over and engages the driver with question after question, without ever telling the suspect why they were pulled over. The officer plies the driver with questions like "May I see your license and registration?" and "Where are you coming from and where are you headed?" and "Are you in a hurry right now?" without giving much hint, if any, as to what the driver might have done wrong to end up on the side of the road.

The next thing the driver knows, the driver faces a DWI charge. "What," the driver wonders, "did I do wrong that led the officer to stop my vehicle?" The officer may not have said a word to the driver at the scene, nor given any reason why the officer would have suspected the driver to be intoxicated. What gives?

Reasonable Suspicion to Stop

The driver in the above common scenario is perfectly within the their rights to wonder: why the stop? The Constitution's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit state and local police from unreasonable searches and seizures. To respect those rights, Supreme Court case law holds that police must ordinarily have reasonable suspicion of a crime to make a traffic stop. A court may generally prohibit the prosecution's use of DWI evidence gathered from a stop made without reasonable suspicion that a law had been broken

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

Boating with an Open Container in Texas Is Legal

No surprise that Texas has some of the best boating lakes and reservoirs in America. In Texas and elsewhere, boating is a great way to relax and have a good time. Adding to the fun, many boaters also enjoy a few beers or other tasty and refreshing beverages in the heat. In Texas, as in most other states, open containers of alcohol in a motor vehicle is a crime, even if the driver hasn't touched the open container. Yet having open containers of alcohol in a boat is not a Texas crime. You can boat in Texas while having open containers aboard and not commit a crime. Yes, you can drink and drive a boat legally in Texas. this right does come with the responsibility of drinking responsibly so that you do not drink so much that you become legally intoxicated.

Operating a Boat While Intoxicated Is a Texas Crime

Yet operating a boat while intoxicated is a Texas crime just like driving a car or truck while intoxicated. Texas Penal Code §49.06 makes operating a watercraft while intoxicated a Class B misdemeanor, ordinarily with a minimum penalty of 72 hours in jail. For a boating while intoxicated conviction, authorities must show that the operator did not have normal use of mental or physical faculties or had a blood alcohol content of.08% or greater. Just because Texas permits open containers aboard does not mean the boat's operator can drink as much as the passengers aboard the boat. If you intend to have open containers in your boat, then you should make sure the boat driver is not legally intoxicated. Do not operate a boat while you are intoxicated as life altering tragic accidents can occur resulting in serious bodily injury or death.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

If you're involved in a traffic accident where someone dies, it can be horrifying. The fear and guilt can be overwhelming. But despite your horror over the accidental loss of life, you still have to worry about possible charges, particularly if the police accuse you of driving while intoxicated. If an intoxicated driver kills someone else in Texas, you can face charges far more serious than a DWI. That's what a Longview, Texas man discovered in 2017.

Police arrested the man for DWI after a crash in Gregg County on October 6, 2017, that killed a passenger in another car. According to police, he was driving north in the 3800 block of South Eastman Road when he entered the southbound lanes and collided with a car driven by Tunyion Lanette Andrews of Woodville. Andrews' mother, 64-year-old Billie Griffin Andrews, was a passenger in the car and died that day in a local hospital.

In February of 2018, a grand jury indicted the man for intoxication manslaughter, and he was out on bail pending his trial. Police arrested him again in April on suspicion of DWI. His trial for the 2017 intoxication manslaughter charge is still pending.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

Public figures like elected officials, television and sports stars, and well-known business leaders are human beings. Public notoriety provides no immunity to a DWI charge. Although a few officers might look the other way when encountering a public figure suspected of a DWI, police are presumably nearly as likely, or depending on the officer and public-figure suspect, more likely, to arrest a public figure on a DWI as they are to arrest a private figure.

One recent story of the DWI arrest of a Texas small-town mayor provides a good example. The story reports the mayor's late-night DWI arrest, after the town's wine-tasting event and the mayor's emergence to drive home from a local restaurant. The mayor's DWI arrest might alone have been newsworthy enough for a good story in the local media. But the charge that the mayor had committed a felony third offense, punishable by several years in prison, surely increased the story's visibility.

Special Treatment or Special Peril?

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

We all enjoy heading to the beach or the lake for Memorial Day weekend, out to watch fireworks for the Fourth of July, or to a friend's party for the Superbowl. But did you know that Texas police departments can implement "no refusal" policies during holiday weekends and high-traffic events? During Atascosa County's Poteet Strawberry Festival weekend in April, that's exactly what the police did. The Texas Department of Public Safety announced the Wednesday before the festival that it intended to crack down on drinking and driving during the celebration. The "no refusal" trend is taking place in all counties across Texas and for some counties, like Harris County, it is not just on the weekend, it is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Other recent events that triggered "no refusal" weekends in Texas recently include:

• Memorial Day
• Fourth of July
• Labor Day
• Halloween
• Christmas through New Years
• Thanksgiving through Christmas

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

You may already know that Texas takes DWI enforcement quite seriously. But did you know that there are special Texas laws for underage drivers suspected of DWI? That's what many drivers discovered during a recent underage drinking enforcement operation in Amarillo, Texas.

On Friday, April 23, 2021, and Saturday, April 24, 2021, the Amarillo Police Department Juvenile Investigation Squad, Patrol Unit, Motorcycle Unit, and the Texas Department of Public Safety State Troopers made multiple arrests in a coordinated campaign targeting underage drinking. Police cited four minor in possession arrests, four curfew violations, several arrests for possession of drug paraphernalia, arrests for tobacco possession, and 16 arrests for DWI over the two-day campaign.

Driving While Intoxicated

In Texas, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle or a watercraft in a public place while intoxicated. Someone is "intoxicated" if:

• They don't have the use of their normal mental or physical faculties after using drugs or alcohol, or

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

If you're facing an arrest for driving while intoxicated, you're undoubtedly worried about what can happen if a court convicts you. But a DWI can also impact your career, particularly if you are a first responder or would like to become one. That's what a Lubbock Independent School District police officer recently discovered after police arrested him on suspicion of DWI.

Lubbock ISD officer arrested

Lubbock police responded to a crash at East Slaton Highway and Martin Luther King Boulevard in Lubbock on April 24, 2021, just before midnight. On the scene, they found the Lubbock ISD police officer had allegedly rear-ended another vehicle, sending one person to University Medical Center with back pain. The ISD officer declined medical treatment. A Lubbock police officer allegedly smelled alcohol and found beer containers in the ISD officer's car.

The police report indicated that the ISD officer's "speech was also extremely slurred and was hard to understand what he was saying." It went on to state that he "was swaying in place and was having a hard time walking around." Police arrested him on suspicion of DWI, a Class B misdemeanor. He was later released on bond while the case is pending.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 06,2021 in Uncategorized

Hard to imagine, but some motor vehicle drivers manage to sleep their way into a DWI arrest. One recent media report perfectly illustrates the hazard. The report indicates that San Antonio police arrested a state senator's chief of staff on a DWI charge after the officers found the staffer asleep behind the wheel of the running vehicle. The arrest occurred in the middle of the night in the parking lot of a local establishment where, the report infers, the staffer may have imbibed until the establishment's closing. The staffer allegedly failed a field sobriety test after officers awoke the staffer from his slumber within the running vehicle.

Whether Sleeping Can Be Operating the Vehicle

Sleeping in a vehicle hardly looks as if one is operating the vehicle as a DWI charge requires. But sleeping one's way into a DWI may actually not be all that unusual. This particular story surely made the news because of the state senator's headline-reported termination of the DWI-charged staffer. Alcohol is, after all, a depressant. When the bars close very late at night, expelling intoxicated patrons into their parking lots, those patrons are already prone to close their eyes, lay back, and rest. And where better to do so than one's secure and comfortable vehicle?

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 05,2021 in Uncategorized

If you're on probation for a DWI conviction, you know that you'll face heightened scrutiny if you're unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident. Even if you've been careful, accidents happen, even to completely sober people. However, law enforcement officials will undoubtedly assume that you were impaired, and you'll need to be careful to protect yourself and your rights. A driver in Cut and Shoot, Texas, will face this uphill battle after a recent accident that killed another driver.

According to the Houston Chronicle, the driver of a minivan was in the middle of a two-way lane on FM 1484 near Miller Road in Cut and Run on the evening of March 23, 2021, when she crashed head-on into a Chevy pickup. A nearby driver witnessed the crash and attempted to call 911 before losing cell service. When emergency personnel reached the scene, they found the driver of the pickup dead and three passengers in critical condition. The minivan driver was in stable condition, and emergency personnel transported the three passengers from the pickup to HCA Houston Healthcare Conroe.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 05,2021 in Uncategorized

When the police stop you on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, it is always scary and stressful. When the police ask you to submit to a blood alcohol test, whether it's a breath test or a blood test, you may not know your best course of action. But resisting arrest or resisting a blood test when the police have a warrant is never a good idea. That's what a Wichita Falls, Texas man recently discovered.

Wichita Falls Suspected DWI

On March 13, 2021, police were called to the scene of a single-vehicle accident after a car ran off the road at Scott Street and 8th Street. The driver then hit several fixtures and stopped about 30 yards away from the first impact. The accident completely removed one wheel from the car. Police reported that the man in the driver's seat seemed disoriented, confused, and got out of the vehicle while it was still running.

The driver then insisted it wasn't his car; he hadn't been driving it and knew nothing about the accident. The police obtained a warrant for a blood draw at a hospital and warned the man he would face another charge if he resisted. The man then told the police to go ahead and charge him because he intended to resist. According to police, the man did resist, and it took two security guards from United Regional to draw the blood.

Continue Reading ››