Driving under the influence of alcohol can lead to serious consequences such as fines, imprisonment and the loss of your driving privileges. If you or someone you know is facing drunk driving charges, you need to reach out to a seasoned New Jersey DWI attorney who can help. With extensive experience, we understand the nuances of this area of law and can aggressively negotiate to lower the penalties you are facing or try to get the charges dismissed altogether.
A Rockaway woman drove drunk to pick up a man who was charged with drunk driving. M.V., age 49, was charged with a DWI and reckless driving when she arrived at the police station appearing to be impaired. She was there to pick up 45-year-old R.W., of Washington, who had called her and asked her to pick him up after he had been charged with a DWI, reckless driving, failure to maintain lane and failure to obey traffic signal. Police administered field sobriety tests on M.V., which she failed and subsequently arrested her.
R.W. had initially been charged when an officer observed him driving west on Route 46 and failing to stay in his lane properly. The officer stopped the vehicle as it made an illegal turn from Route 46. Once the vehicle was stopped, the officer noticed an odor of alcohol emanating from the car. In addition, R.W. appeared to be impaired. He subsequently failed field sobriety tests and was taken to police headquarters. After submitting to breath chemical at the station, R.W. called M.V. to pick him up.
In New Jersey, the offense of driving while intoxicated occurs when a driver gets behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 percent or higher. Under state law, you must be at least 21 years of age to purchase, possess or consume alcoholic beverages. If you are under the age of 21 with any detectable amount of alcohol in your system (0.01 percent of above), you will be charged with a DWI.
If a driver consumes any quantity of alcohol, prescription drugs, over the counter medication or illegal drugs – there can still be impairment that can form the basis for a New Jersey DWI. In other words, a person can be charged with a DWI due to any drug or alcohol that would affect his or her ability to drive in a safe manner.
Individuals charged with DWIs face strict penalties. How severe the penalties will be in your specific case will depend on a number of different factors including whether it was your first DWI, your BAC at the time of the arrest, and whether you refused a chemical test.
If you have been arrested or charged with a DWI, you should not take it lightly. Whether it is your first DWI arrest or a subsequent one, a conviction can have far reaching consequences for your life. Our highly skilled New Jersey DWI attorneys are dedicated to helping those facing DWI charges. You can rest assured that we will thoroughly examine your case and help you build the strongest defense possible under the circumstances. For more information, call our office today 877-450.8301 or contact us online.
More Blog Posts:
Study Finds More Fatal Crashes Linked to Drugged Driving than Drunk Driving