Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

Every year, the Texas Department of Safety steps up enforcement over the Labor Day weekend. The three-day weekend results in more people on the road, parties, and more people drinking and driving. During Labor Day 2019, the Texas DPS reported handing out more than 102,000 citations and warnings. DPS also made 489 driving while intoxicated arrests, 358 fugitive arrests, and 354 felony arrests.

Police across the state announced in advance that they would step up enforcement during a weekend that traditionally has more drunk drivers on the road. The numbers for 2020 aren't in yet, but police in Harris County arrested 30 people for DWI in just one small area of the county over the Labor Day weekend.

What is DWI?

A Texas driver with a blood alcohol content higher than.08% is legally intoxicated, and police can charge them with driving while intoxicated (DWI). But a driver is also intoxicated if they are driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol regardless of blood alcohol content. See Tex. Penal Code § 49.04. This offense is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a minimum of 72 hours in jail. If your blood alcohol content exceeds.15%, it is a Class A misdemeanor.

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

If you are charged with DWI in Texas in an accident where others have sustained bodily or severe bodily injuries, you can face additional or enhanced charges. But what happens if you are injured yourself in the accident?

This question comes front-and-center with a recent news report in which a woman in Hauppage, New York was pulled from her burning vehicle after it crashed into a utility pole. She was quickly rescued from the wreckage by two onlookers who observed the accident, and fortunately neither the woman nor anyone else was seriously injured. However, when the police arrived and conducted an investigation, they suspected DWI. The woman was soon arrested.

The situation could have turned out much differently for the driver. How would events have unfolded if she had needed to go to the hospital? What happens with a DWI arrest if you are in need of medical attention?

Your Health Comes First...

Under the law, a person's immediate health needs always take priority over any legal or criminal troubles. If police arrive on the scene of an accident where you are injured, they have an obligation to provide you with medical treatment first and investigate later. They will (or should) hold off on booking you until an EMT has checked you out at the scene and determined whether further medical treatment is necessary-including a trip to the emergency room. That said, being injured in an accident where you were the driver won't necessarily preclude a possible DWI arrest if police have reason to suspect you. It simply means you may face those charges when you are well enough to be sent home.

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

Three members of the Texas Thin Blue Line Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club died in July after being struck by a drunk driver in the middle of the afternoon. The accident happened on Highway 16 between Medina and Kerrville while the group was out for a ride celebrating the club's 11th birthday.

The driver allegedly crossed the center line into the group, killing the victims and injuring four more motorcyclists. Police charged the driver with driving while intoxicated (DWI) and multiple counts of intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault. While the incident is a horrifying reminder of what can happen when someone drinks and gets behind the wheel, it's also a reminder that the same DWI laws apply to both drivers of cars and motorcycles.

Driving While Intoxicated in Texas

Texas law defines intoxication as:

"(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the body; or

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

On Saturday June 27, police officers in Put-in-Bay, Ohio responded to a call that someone had driven their vehicle off the road and into Lake Erie. When they arrived, they found Jeremiah Braswell, a rookie receiver for the St. Louis Cardinals, still inside the car. According to reports, his speech was slurred and he had no recollection of how his vehicle got into the lake. Upon failing a breathalyzer test, Braswell was arrested and charged with drunk driving.

Braswell had only signed with the Cardinals the previous month out of college and has yet to play a game with them. But he is by far not the only instance of a professional athlete making news headlines for DUI and DWI arrests. The list includes a long line of famous athletes from all sports disciplines, including Carl Lewis, Darryl Strawberry, Michael Phelps, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and a host of others. At one point a few years ago, at least 30 percent of arrests involving NFL players were drunk-driving related.

A Look at the Stats

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

A 15-year-old boy was recently killed in a crash with a wrong-way driver in Frisco, Texas. The boy was traveling with his family just before midnight on the Dallas North Tollway when they crashed with a vehicle that was traveling the wrong way. The boy's sister was hurt in the accident and their parents were critically injured.

According to the North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), the wrong way driver ignored several "One-Way," signs, four "Do Not Enter" and four "Wrong Way" signs before getting onto an exit ramp equipped with raised pavement markers and reflective arrows showing the correct direction of travel. The wrong-way driver was also killed in the crash.

According to court records, Frisco police arrested the wrong-way driver for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) in 2016. Officials are awaiting toxicology test results to see if he was impaired at the time of the crash, though the NTTA said that, "to date, every wrong-way crash NTTA has recorded has involved a driver who was impaired."

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

In September 2017, a 72-year-old driver in Brazos County pulled out in front of another vehicle, causing a collision. When police responded to the crash, the driver admitted he had been drinking, and testing showed him over the legal limit. Three months later, a jury convicted him of DWI.

At the man's sentencing in February 2020, the judge handed down a 15-year prison sentence. The reason cited? It was the driver's seventeenth DWI conviction.

If you understand Texas DWI law, you know this driver got off easy with a 15-year sentence. Texas law is remarkably stern toward recidivist (repeat) DWI offenders. The penalties for first and second DWI offenses are strict enough; but once you reach three or more offenses, you'll definitely need the help of a good attorney because you're now in felony territory, and the stakes just got much higher.

Possible Penalties for Recidivist DWI in Texas

Although Texas law effectively stops counting DWI convictions at "three or more," the law is still structured so the possible criminal penalties get progressively more severe with each conviction. Here's a quick overview of how it works:

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

A DWI arrest in Texas, even on a first offense, can have profound ramifications for the family of the person arrested. But what if two or more family members-for example, a husband and wife-face DWI charges simultaneously?

A pair of arrests in Arlington, Texas, recently brought this question to the forefront. As the Dallas Morning News reports, a woman was pulled over at around 2:45 AM on a Thursday in late May for driving with no headlights. After conducting a sobriety test, police arrested her on charges of DWI. About an hour later, the woman's boyfriend, presumably unaware of her arrest, tracked her phone to the police station and told officers he was "looking for his girlfriend." Police suspected that he, too, was intoxicated, and since he had driven to the station, they arrested him for DWI, as well.

A More Complicated Situation

When more than one adult in a household with responsibilities faces DWI arrest or conviction, it can wreak havoc in the home on several levels, especially if there are dependents in the house. For example:

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 Posted on September 09,2020 in Uncategorized

Certainly no one wants their night to end being arrested by Highway Patrol officers while their car sinks to the bottom of a lake. That's exactly what happened recently to a man in Wisconsin.

Highway Patrol officers began following him after numerous other drivers called in reports that he was driving erratically in his SUV. With officers watching, he hit a barrier wall, a signpost, and left the roadway several times, before finally plummeting off an interstate bridge and down a 100-foot embankment before landing in the lake.

Fortunately, the driver was able to escape and swim away from the SUV as it sank. A patrol officer on the scene commandeered a kayak and a flotation device from a bystander and paddled out to pull the driver to safety. However, while checking to see if the driver was injured, the officer noted signed for impairment. The driver was taken to an area hospital and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, and then given a blood test to determine if he had been drinking. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated (DWI).

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 Posted on August 08,2020 in Uncategorized

Usually, when people think of a police chase, images of speeding cars blowing through stoplights and squealing around corners come to mind. They think of vigilantes followed by a passel of police cars with their lights flashing and sirens blaring in hot pursuit.

People don't usually think of drivers who are driving very slowly, perhaps not more than 40 miles per hour (mph), and maybe not even 10 mph. But slow speed police chases definitely happen. People who have been in a slow-speed police chase are frequently charged with DWI because police officers are trained to suspect that a slow driver is intoxicated, though that is not always the case.

Evading arrest is a crime under Texas law. It is defined as intentionally fleeing from a person they know is a peace officer or federal special investigator who is attempting lawfully to arrest or detain them. Evading arrest on foot is a misdemeanor in Texas, but if the suspect is in a motor vehicle or boat, it's a felony punishable by between 180 days and two years in jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

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 Posted on August 08,2020 in Uncategorized

When local bars across Texas were first forced to close as part of the coronavirus shutdowns, authorities expected to see a notable drop in the number of DWI cases. However, the city of Austin defied those expectations. According to local reports, not only did the rate of DWI arrests remain comparable to the previous year during the lockdown, but during the first weekend when bars reopened in May, the number of DWI arrests doubled.

The Houston area reports similar data. Although their DWI arrest rates actually dropped by about 50 percent during the lockdown, the arrests shot way up after bars reopened-to the point that Houston is now on par to match its arrest rates for 2019. These reports seem fairly consistent throughout other Texas cities.

Interpreting the Numbers

What could be causing DWI arrest numbers across the state to be the same as, or higher than, they were before the pandemic? Some possible explanations:

• The police may have more opportunities to make DWI arrests. With more people staying at home, law enforcement has dealt with less traffic on the roads, fewer traffic violations, and in many cases less crime overall. This reduced activity may make them more able to observe signs of DWI and to make more traffic stops than they would under normal circumstances.

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