Three individuals were recently taken into custody around Ocean County on charges of drunken driving, though the circumstances were rather different for each of the motorists accused of DWI. As Garden State trials attorneys and professional drunk driving defense lawyers, the legal team at the law offices of Jonathan F. Marshall knows that DWI and drug DUI arrests can take place at any time of the day. As longtime advocates for motorists accused of driving while intoxicated, we also are well aware of the odd situations in which some people find themselves, which result in such encounters with the law.
Take the recent arrest of a 42-year-old Barnegat resident when he was observed by patrolmen asleep behind the wheel of his vehicle as it was idling in a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant drive-through. According to the news story we ran into, Stafford Twp. police were called to the scene of a possibly inebriated individual around 2pm on a Friday morning. Based on the police report, the driver had only moments earlier placed an order for some food with the staff at McDonalds when he apparently fell asleep while in line for his order.
The restaurant staff was unable to awaken the man, who apparently passed out in his car. Officers arriving on the scene reportedly roused the motorist and then charged him with driving under the influence of alcohol. He was also found to have had a number of outstanding warrants totaling more than $2,500. He was booked and eventually remanded to the Ocean County Jail in lieu of bail.
The day before, a second instance of drunk driving in Ocean County occurred, this time involving a Beachwood man who was allegedly arrested for driving on a license that had been suspended following an earlier DUI conviction. According to news articles, Lacey Twp. patrolmen made what appears to have been a routine traffic stop in a Walmart parking lot off of Rte 9 in the Lanoka Harbor area. The incident took place a little after 11am on a Thursday morning.
The 67-year-old driver was arrested after police determined that he, too, had been driving on a suspended license. According to the news report, the man’s license had been revoked as a result of “multiple, prior driving under the influence convictions,” based on court records. As a result of the stop, the driver was taken into custody and charged with operating a motor vehicle while on a suspended license, as well as receiving a summons for failure to install an ignition interlock device (IID). The man was eventually released pending a court appearance.
Later that same day, a little before 9pm, Lacey police officers pulled a car over along a portion of Lacey Rd. near Vaughn Ave. in the Forked River area for what appears to have been a routine traffic offense. During the police investigation, it was apparently determined that the 46-year-old Barnegat, NJ, driver was intoxicated. He was eventually arrested and charged with DWI, as well as receiving a number of other summonses for reckless driving, failure to maintain his lane, and using a cellphone behind the wheel while operating his car.
The man was taken into custody and his vehicle impounded, due to the New Jersey law that gives police in the Garden State the power to seize the vehicles of suspected drunk drivers.
Stafford police arrest man after he falls asleep in McDonald’s drive-through, PressofAtlanticCity.com, May 15, 2014
Beachwood man drove vehicle while license suspended for DUI, Lacey cops say; APP.com; May 14, 2014