As New Jersey DWI defense lawyers, my colleagues and I know the serious consequences that can be associated with operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The attorneys at my law office have for years been legal representatives of accused DWI-DUI drivers; we have acted in this capacity for long enough to know that getting behind the wheel of a motor vehicle after having a drink or two can be more than a risky proposition, it can lead to an injury-related car accident or a fatal traffic collision.
Aside from these mostly unthinkable results of impaired driving, the odds of being arrested by a state police trooper or a local patrolman increase with the frequency of driving while potentially intoxicated. As a matter of fact, we often advise friends and associates to always consider the potential downside of operating a car, truck or motorcycle if one has had anything to drink prior to getting behind the wheel.
This warning goes the same for individuals who are taking prescription drugs or other narcotic substances. There is little to be gained by venturing out onto public roads when you may be stopped by a state trooper or local patrolman for some minor traffic offense, only to be slapped with a DWI or drug DUI. The personal and professional embarrassment, potential financial impact and the possible daily troubles associated with the loss of one’s license should all be motivating factors for any driver who thinks he is immune from detection, arrest or conviction for DWI or DUI.
An as we have already said, as experienced drunken driving lawyers we know that there are other more serious consequences that can go hand in hand with drinking and driving. Auto collisions and fatal traffic accidents come immediately to mind. There is hardly a good outcome when combining a DWI or DUI with a bad roadway collision. Our best advice to anyone who even half believes that he or she may be impaired by drugs or alcohol is to never get behind the wheel in the first place.
Consider the tragic circumstances that took place along a road in Mercer County, NJ, earlier this summer, which according to news reports left a four-year-old girl and her father dead in mid-June. Based on police reports, the crash took place along a stretch of Rte 29 in the Hamilton Twp. Area when a northbound vehicle driven by 27-year-old Camden resident, Manuel G. Vazquez, struck the victims’ vehicle a little before 3:30am.
Emergency personnel arriving on the scene found the driver of the victims’ vehicle dead from the force of the impact, while his young daughter was fatally injured and his six-year-old son critically so. Police arrested Vazquez and charged him with multiple counts, including drunk driving and death by auto, plus a couple counts of vehicular assault. Not long after the little girl was admitted to a local hospital she was declared brain dead; she was subsequently taken off life-support. The son, however, apparently survived the crash with broken bones; the mother was reportedly not with her family at the time of fatal DWI collision.
After being charged, Vazquez was transported to Mercer County’s correctional facility, where he was being held at the time of the news report on $250,000 bail, as well as an immigration detainer. Authorities noted that the suspect had never been licensed to drive in the U.S. and was reportedly picked up in Texas for DWI several weeks prior to this fatal event.
Four-year-old Trenton girl is declared brain dead after car crash that killed her father, NJ.com, June 17, 2013
Wife of Trenton man killed in DWI crash describes a “loving man”, NJ.com, June 17, 2013