Being stopped by a police officer for a routine traffic offense can lead to other, more serious charges. As a New Jersey DWI defense attorney, my goal is to assist motorists accused of driving under the influence of alcohol, prescription drug DUI, or other drunken driving charges. What this means to the average driver is that a simple broken taillight can turn into a DWI summons depending on whether or not that individual has a certain amount of alcohol in his or her bloodstream.
As drunk driving defense lawyers in Bergen, Ocean, Middlesex and other counties across the Garden State, my firm sees all manner of DWI arrest scenarios throughout the year. To complicate matters, a driver who actively takes the wheel in an intoxicated state may be risking other charges and legal actions. Case in point, an allegedly illegal immigrant who was stopped a while back by patrolmen in Teaneck, NJ, for driving while intoxicated.
According to news reports, police were alerted to a car being driving in a reportedly erratic fashion along Queen Anne Road in the early evening hours on a Sunday. Based on police reports, patrolmen pulled the woman over after they observed her car apparently crossing the double center line of the road.
After stopping the vehicle just before 7pm, officers apparently detected signs of intoxication and requested the 24-year-old driver, Sofia Bautista-Aparicio, to exit the vehicle and take several field sobriety tests, which she reportedly failed. According to police the woman lived out-of-state, spoke very little English and could not produce a valid driver’s license. In order to complete the arrest, officers requested a translator.
While waiting in the police car, the woman allegedly urinated on the back seat, threw up and then apparently passed out. Police transported her to Holy Name Medical Center where a blood sample was drawn to determine the driver’s blood-alcohol content (BAC). During the arrest, Bautista-Aparicio admitted that she was from Mexico and was in the United States illegally.
Police contacted immigration authorities, however due to the fact that drunken driving is not a criminal offense in New Jersey, INS officials declined to respond. Bautista-Aparicio was charged with drunk driving and then released on a summons.
Teaneck, police reports, NorthJersey.com, September 23, 2010