I live way out in the country in a small community. The nearest store is about eight miles away. I went to the store Saturday morning to get a few things and a mile before I reached my house I came up on this pickup truck sitting in the road. There' s a guy sitting in the truck and it appears he is looking at something. I drive on by and go home, but the situation is bugging me. Something just didn' t look right about the way he was sitting. I drop the groceries off and go back just to make sure he' s alright.
I pull back up to the truck and sure enough the guy is kinda slumped over in the seat with the seat belt half holding him up. I pull into a drive right behind him and walk up to his passenger' s window which is half down. I ask him if he' s alright, rather loudly. He sorta jerks a little and half raises his head. As soon as he looked at me, I could tell he was completely wasted out of his gord. To my amazement he even had a half finished bottle of beer in his left hand. I wish I had seen that before I said anything. I told him everything was fine, just stay right there. I was going to leave him there and go call the police to come get him.
As I start back to my car, he peels out and takes off down the road. I don' t have my cell phone so I can' t call anybody. Not that it would have done any good at that point. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. I fall in behind him thinking he won' t make it far before he runs off the road or something, but I was honestly scared to death he would hit someone else. I wrote his license plate number down while I was following him. He literally ran off the road about fifteen times and missed hitting a bridge guard rail by a few feet at one point. He went about a mile past my house and pulled into a driveway. I went past and turned around and when I came back by, he was still sitting in the truck, passed out again I' m sure. I don' t know him or if that was his house. I knew pulling in there would be trouble as I was pretty pissed at that point. I knew he couldn' t be charged with DUI after he made it home.
Questions to the LEO' s. What can be done to him after he makes it home? Do I just call the police department and file a complaint? Is there anything else I can do? How would I make a citizens arrest if I see him driving drunk again?
I' m sure I should have called them immediately, but I' m honestly wondering if there is any particular way to go about this to get better results. I don' t think anything can be done to him after he' s off the public highways.
The dark side of me wants to go that house in a rainstorm and completely incapacitate that truck, but that' s no guarantee it' ll stop him. It would surely serve him right though. If he hurts any of my friends or family, ya' ll will probably be reading about me in the news.
A friend of my daughter' s was killed two days ago by a drunk driver.
Im not the law at all but ya that guy is a danger!!
Back in ny state i have heard of ppl being arrested for dui without even being in the car... was the middle of nowhere too & the person was walking- with his car down the road a ways- but still got him.
I would report what ya saw anyways... good luck. hope they do something.
First off Stickemup, you"™re a decent guy and a good neighbor for going to check on the fellow. Good for you.
Now as to what the Law can do? That all depends on the laws in your state and what happened after he pulled into the drive.
If he were able to get into the house, if he lived there or knew the occupants, it would be hard to prove an OWI. He could always make the claim that after he entered the dwelling out of your sight he consumed more alcohol and that is what put him over the legal limit. That is one of the reasons repeat drunken drives leave the scene of accidents. It makes it hard to prove " when they exceeded the legal limit" .
Now for the good side. You made some very clear and defined observations and a good prosecutor can use that to convince an honest jury that the guy was blasted before he left you sight. Those being, passed out behind the wheel, the beer in the hand, the startled reaction, the fleeing, the erratic driving and maybe you could smell something(?) that you knew to be alcohol.
Another good point is those same observations can be used as seperate traffic charges to " pile on " a whole lot of tickets. That can be just as effective in getting this guy off the road.
On the bad side, if this guy lives about a mile down the road from you there is, unfortunately, the likelihood that you or a loved one may " run into" him agian. Or better said he may run into one of you. Be careful and see what you can learn about this fellow.
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Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
Yes, that is the law here in WI but the same things apply as far as provong he was intoxicated behind the wheeel and did not consume anything after he left your sight. Got to catch them in the vehicle basically.
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Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
I figured he was " technically" safe from arrest after he made it to the house. I will be gathering information on this dude over the next day or so. He basically got away with it this time, but I will call the police and make a report. At least if he hurts someone or gets caught in the near future, they will know it isn' t the first time he' s driven drunk.
Logs,
How does a citizen' s arrest work? What steps can I take to legally detain someone in his condition? I' m a second degree black belt and could take someone down if necessary, but I don' t want to get sued afterwards. I know I can' t legally beat him senseless or anything, but would I be allowed to physically hold him until the cops arrive?
StickemUp, that' s a slippery slope and usually applies in felonies only.
It isn' t worth having " hands on" contact with a deal like this. Just what you did, if you followed up with a call to the Law is perfect.
If you go hands on and something bad happens you could be in deep dodo. Say you attempt to remove the guy from his vehicle and as you' re doing it he hits the gas and due to you holdong on to him he crosses the center line and hits an oncoming vehicle head on. Now I know you wouldn' t time it as such and you' d use all do caution but it' s not worth the risk for a drunken driver.
As they say, You Done Good.
If this is a local boy, he drinks locally. You' ll spot the truck at a bar, then if he' s there drinking call it in as a drunk being served. Nothing will crush the gonads of a bartender than having a patron get him fined. He' ll run out of places to drink. And if the bar is serving drunks you have done two good things.
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Now you have to picture a combination of PeeWEE Herman and Wally Cox but with less muscle tone, trying to be intimidating None of this is funny! Message edited by Cougar Mag -- 1/7/2005 1:16:42 AM >/b]
Stickemup, you did the right thing in making sure he was ok the first time. He could' ve had some medical emergency and you could have ended up saving his life. Logs is giving you good advice as usual. We don' t know if your state requires you to " physically" arrest and detain somebody for the police in order to make a citizen' s arrest or not. As logs said, there are a lot of things that can go wrong or complicate the process.
Ask a local cop what the procedures are for a citizen' s arrest if you' re still interested in it and more importantly, what he' d recommend you do if you see this guy slumped over a wheel again. I' d bet the cop will be interested in all of your information on this guy. It may take a while to catch the guy when he' s driving drunk but it sure is handy to know who tends to drive drunk and watch for their vehicle when they' re driving around.
Now that you know he' s a drunk, you don' t have to make that personal contact again. If you see his truck parked with him slumped over the wheel, you' ll pretty much know he' s probably drunk again and more importantly, can articulate why you believe he' s drunk to the police. Don' t approach the guy the next time you see him so he doesn' t get spooked. Go call the cops instead. Advise them of the previous time you found this guy slumped over his wheel while drunk and that you' re concerned he' s drunk again. If he' s that bad of a drunk, it' s just a matter of time before you get another opportunity. Happy hunting!
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Thanks for the advice guys. I' m going to make sure of the exact description of the truck (distinguishing features) and also see if I can find out his name. He pretty much has to come through the same little town I went to to get groceries. I' m going to stop and talk to the sheriff in that town and give him a heads up as well as call the county sheriff' s department. I' m betting the local guy gets him in the near future. Anybody that drinks that much and tries to drive home is probably doing it on a regular basis.
I still can' t get over the fact that he was parked in the road and passed out. I bet you guys have gotten to see some pretty crazy stuff in your line of work. That was one of the more amazing things I' ve seen.
You have just had a learning lesson in life situations.
Next time, leave well enough alone and go call the authorities. Chances are he would have stayed there passed out long enough for the police to get there. Having bartended for several years in my youth, and having to deal with this problem on many occassions in the parking lot of the bars I worked, it works well when done. You just never know the state of mind a person is in when they are in that kind of situation, whether it be drunk or on drugs, and as you found out, he got desperate, panicked and ran, possible making a bad situation worse. I hate to call the police on anyone, but I always looked at it as a life I might have saved. Here in Missouri, you can be arrested for D.U.I. or D.W.I. just for having your keys in the ignition, as stated by Taz earlier.
What can legally be done to this guy?
