Even if a victim doesn’t press charges or initiate a personal injury lawsuit against another person who may or may not be negligent in causing a car accident, local police and municipal courts are not likely to feel much sympathy for any motorist who causes an injury accident while allegedly driving drunk in the Garden State. As New Jersey DWI defense lawyers, I and my legal staff know how strict the law can be when prosecutors build a case against an alleged drunk driver.
New Jersey law doesn’t allow much wiggle room for individuals who are found guilty of DWI or drug DUI, not to mention breath test refusal and other DWI- and DUI-related offenses. Monetary penalties aside, one should always be concerned about the future of his or her driver’s license, as well as employment or chances for advancement. The potential social stigma of a DWI conviction can also put the brakes on a marital relationship, not to mention one’s standing in the community. All in all, being convicted for a drunken driving collision that also resulted in injuries or, worse, fatalities, can spell the end to a normal life.
We were reminded of this type of scenario not long ago when we ran across a news article detailing the events leading up to a car accident in Teaneck, NJ. According to news reports, the sister of an alleged drunken driver was seriously injured in a car crash earlier this past spring. Police indicated that up to the car crash that injured one of his relatives, the 27-year-old New Milford resident had apparently lost his license through suspension on almost two dozen separate occasions.
According to news articles, Alejandro Beasley, Jr. had his license suspended by the state of New Jersey 23 times — from early 2007 to just this past January. While that may seem like an awful record, news reports show that each of those two dozen suspensions was for administrative reasons. This is based on statements made by a representative of New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission. For those who may be wondering, an administrative suspension is one in which a driver loses his or her license for a variety of offenses including failure to pay surcharges or failure to make a court appearance as scheduled.
Of course, the man also had a number of violations under his belt, at least based on the Motor Vehicle Commission rep. These included 17 violations from the spring of 2006 until the present. And while nine of those 17 were for driving under a suspended license, apparently none of the offenses were for DWI.
This may all be relative considering that police determined the man to have been allegedly intoxicated at the time of the Sunday morning crash that injured his sister, a passenger in the car he was operating. Based on news items, the single-vehicle wreck occurred about half-past four in the morning along a stretch of River Rd. in Bergen County. Police reports indicate that the vehicle left the roadway and hit a tree; the driver’s 24-year-old sister received internal injuries as a result of the accident.
Beasley was charged with a number of violations, including DWI, assault by auto, careless driving and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
Man Charged in Teaneck DWI Crash Had Record of License Suspensions, Violations; Patch.com; April 25, 2012