Just a note to any drunk individuals who might mistakenly believe that liquor stores are their best friends. All we can say is don’t count on it; the odds of these businesses risking their livelihoods for you are very low indeed.
When it comes to drinking and driving, my firm knows that many people caught by the police are surprised to discover that that they are being charged for DWI, thinking instead that they could not have been legally drunk at the time of the police stop. And while our job as New Jersey drunken driving defense attorneys is to challenge the prosecution’s evidence, there are times when the state does have a case and the driver will likely face stiff penalties.
It seems that some people don’t always consider their well-being or that of others around them when they get behind the wheel of a motor vehicle after having more than enough to drink. As experienced trial attorneys, my colleagues and I have the skills and training to help accused motorists fight the charges and perhaps have penalties or jail time reduced. Going it alone in a New Jersey DWI and drug DUI case is a risky proposition, which is why we recommend consulting with a qualified legal expert in drunk driving law.
For those people who tend to excess, a news story we ran across a while back illustrated the folly of thinking that the people who sell beer, wine and hard liquor are proponents of drinking and driving, or any kind of intoxicated lifestyle. According to the news report, a 56-year-old Toms River man attempted to purchase alcohol at a New York liquor store in Queensbury, but the entire incident landed the individual in police custody after the store owner reported the driver to authorities.
Based on the news, the New Jersey resident was refused a liquor sale on a Thursday in June on the basis that the owner of the store and an employee believed the man to be already drunk. After being told by the proprietor that he could not purchase an alcoholic beverage, the man reportedly left the store and drove away despite the store owner’s efforts to stop him out in the parking lot.
According to the police, the store owner apparently followed the man outside to his car and pulled the keys out of the ignition to stop the driver from leaving. However, the man was able to grab his keys back, start the vehicle and leave the area. Based on the news report we read, the allegedly drunken motorist was stopped a short distance away from the liquor store by police officers responding to the store owner’s call to authorities.
The New Jersey driver was pulled over by police along a stretch of Aviation Road in Warren County, NY, after a state trooper observed a vehicle matching the description given by the liquor store’s owner. The officer pulled the man over after the driver reportedly failed to use his turn signal correctly. Surprisingly, the police determined that the man had been able in the interim to purchase a bottle of vodka at another liquor store.
After the arrest, police took the man into custody and measured his blood-alcohol content (BAC) at 0.32 percent, which is four times the legal limit. Additional checking found that the out-of-state driver had at least one prior drunken driving conviction within the past 10 years, which raised the latest charges from that of a misdemeanor to a felony DWI. The man was eventually booked and remanded to the Warren County Jail due to lack of bail money.
Tip from Queensbury liquor store leads to felony DWI arrest, PostStar.com, June 14, 2013