The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office announced earlier this week that it would officially make drunk driving a fireable offense for deputies or other department employees. The new policy, which will go into immediate effect, was institute by Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri after a series of alarming incidents involving impaired officers. Read More...

The website Jalopnik, a site devoted to all things automotive, recently published an interesting info-graphic that showed a map of the world overlaid with the different blood alcohol levels that are allowed before a motorist will be arrested and charged with drunk driving. The rainbow of colors is surprising, especially seeing how shockingly low some countries have set their legal drinking limits. Read More...

Off-Road Recreational Vehicle (ATV, Snowmobile, Dirt Bike) DWIs in Minnesota

If you are operating an off-road recreational vehicle in Minnesota, then it is possible to get a DWI.  If you wondering what qualifies as an off-road vehicle, or any vehicle for that matter, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “does this have a motor in it?”  As we learned in State v. Greenman, the Minnesota Court of Appeals analyzed whether a Segway was a motor vehicle for the purposes of a DUI.  Because a Segway does not have a motor, but rather is “an electric personal assistive mobility device”, the court held that a Segway is not a motor vehicle for the purposes of charging someone with drunk driving. Read More...

The recent decisions by Colorado and Washington voters to legalize the recreational use and possession of marijuana has led to a host of new issues for law enforcement authorities in the two states. Cops have had to adjust to a new way of interacting with those in possession of marijuana, even having to retrain drug dogs to prevent them from sniffing out pot. One area that has been especially difficult for citizens and law enforcement officials is the murky topic of marijuana-impaired driving. Read More...

A decision out of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court could spark big changes in the way that future drunk driving cases are handled. The opinion, which was released this Wednesday, says that juries should not hear an officer’s opinion regarding whether a driver’s consumption of alcohol was sufficient to impair his or her ability to operate their vehicle safely. Read More...

A Chicago woman has filed suit against LaSalle County after she says she was forcibly stripped of her clothes and left in a jail cell for hours following a drunk driving arrest. The woman, Dana Holmes, has said that the strip wasn’t about any legitimate desire to search her, but instead appeared to merely be punitive, something her lawyer says amounts to an unconstitutional violation of Holmes’ rights. Read More...

The Washington State Highway Patrol recently released statistics regarding drunk driving arrests which indicate that a recent change to the state’s liquor laws has not resulted in the expected rise in DUI charges. The numbers show that despite the increased availability of hard alcohol, there has been no corresponding increase in drunk driving arrests or accidents. Read More...

In a surprising move, the Delaware Supreme Court announced that it would not agree to rehear a case it decided earlier this month. That case involved a ruling by the court that Davear Whittle’s second-degree murder conviction would be overturned all because a prosecutor in the original trial noted that he felt the state’s witnesses had been “right” while making his closing arguments. Read More...

Minnesota Finds Voluntary Consent in DWI Cases

In State v. Brooks, the Minnesota Supreme Court recently decided the most hotly contested issue in DWI cases across the state.  The main issue before the Court was whether an officer needs to obtain a search warrant to obtain a sample of a driver’s blood or urine in DWI cases; and if a warrant is required, then does an exception to the warrant requirement apply. Read More...

The Minnesota Supreme Court decided an interesting, and likely important case earlier this week regarding the constitutionality of the state’s implied-consent law. The High Court ultimately decided that because the defendant, Wesley Brooks, consented to the having a chemical test performed following a drunk driving traffic stop there was no violation of the man’s Fourth Amendment rights. Read More...