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I did something stupid and need advice(DUI/DWI)
AltforH/A
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Monday night I got blackout drunk and drove home from a bar. It was extremely stupid, I could've killed someone or myself, and it is one of the bigger mistakes of my life. I have to take serious steps to correct this and very closely examine my personal behavior. That being said, I possibly had a run-in with the police that night and need to figure out what to do.
I woke up Tuesday afternoon with the vague recollection of having been in trouble with the cops in the parking lot of my apartment building. My gchat away message had been set to a message about how I was in a lot of trouble, but not for what. I had also opened a webpage to the county court's homepage. On my phone was message from my landlord about how I needed to move my car, because it was not in a spot and blocking the lot from being plowed. Additionally, my car key was missing.
Going out to my car, it was indeed not in a spot and the door was unlocked. A piece of the casing for my driver-side side view mirror had broken off and was now sitting in the car. The battery was also drained. I had the car towed to a dealership and got a new key made.
At this juncture, I need to know if I have a court date. I called the police several times to ask if I had been arrested that morning, not saying it was me. Both times I was told no, but the second time I was told that the information was just to indicate whether that person had been in any city jail. I also got put through to the property department and was told they had no car keys. There were no tickets or citations in my apartment, but considering how drunk I was, it is not out of the question that I did something with it (possibly eaten). Can I call the county courthouse and ask them if so and so has an outstanding court date for an arraignment without fear of getting myself in further trouble? Which division would it be, criminal or traffic? If I call the police and explain what happened, would they be able to file charges at that point (especially if I did encounter cops but they just let me off)?
I expect to get my fair share of admonishment in this thread. I deserve it.
I woke up Tuesday afternoon with the vague recollection of having been in trouble with the cops in the parking lot of my apartment building. My gchat away message had been set to a message about how I was in a lot of trouble, but not for what. I had also opened a webpage to the county court's homepage. On my phone was message from my landlord about how I needed to move my car, because it was not in a spot and blocking the lot from being plowed. Additionally, my car key was missing.
Going out to my car, it was indeed not in a spot and the door was unlocked. A piece of the casing for my driver-side side view mirror had broken off and was now sitting in the car. The battery was also drained. I had the car towed to a dealership and got a new key made.
At this juncture, I need to know if I have a court date. I called the police several times to ask if I had been arrested that morning, not saying it was me. Both times I was told no, but the second time I was told that the information was just to indicate whether that person had been in any city jail. I also got put through to the property department and was told they had no car keys. There were no tickets or citations in my apartment, but considering how drunk I was, it is not out of the question that I did something with it (possibly eaten). Can I call the county courthouse and ask them if so and so has an outstanding court date for an arraignment without fear of getting myself in further trouble? Which division would it be, criminal or traffic? If I call the police and explain what happened, would they be able to file charges at that point (especially if I did encounter cops but they just let me off)?
I expect to get my fair share of admonishment in this thread. I deserve it.
AltforH/A on
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It seems odd that they wouldn't have arrested you if they caught you driving drunk, unless they were VERY nice.
"Here's a ticket for driving drunk. enjoy your drive home." Does that seem at all possible?
See a good DUI attorney. He'll know what to do and it's not worth the risk to just wait it out.
No, it doesn't seem likely at all, but what if they didn't catch up with me until I was in my parking lot?
You STILL would have been booked for it, probably.
You've acknowledged that it was an enormous mistake, and you've profusely acknowledged that you need to take a good, hard look at your life and make some changes. You're taking this as a wake-up call and doing everything any reasonable person would expect you to do to make things right. There's no reason for anyone to bitch you out, and this is coming from a man who lost a girlfriend to drunk driving at a very impressionable age.
That's like saying that if you can make it home during a high-speed police chase for drunk driving they'll let you off the hook
More what I meant was that they didn't see me until I was in the lot. Perhaps passed out in my car.
The headlights weren't on. The car was left in between two rows of parked cars.
One of the only memories I have is being out in the car in the lot and trying to get it started but the battery was definitely dead. If they knew the car wasn't going anywhere, they might have just left me.
I know I'm reaching here, but I'm just looking at every possibility. I'm also considering that my latent schizophrenia has kicked in from all the brain cells I killed that night and I totally imagined the cops. Just with the open webpage and the status message, it's hard to fully accept that possibility.
Well if that happened by the sounds of it you threw away the key.
It varies from place to place but either if you have the key in the ignition or if it is in the car, it is intention to drive while drunk.
IF this is what happens it sounds like you threw away the key.
Since the key isn't on you/in the ignition then they can't book you.
You are probably ok.
Satans..... hints.....
Also, in almost every state. being found drunk in a car with the keys either in hand or in the ignition is enough to get you arrest for DUI or DWI. You don't have to actually be driving, despite what it's called. Again, you got off very lucky. Don't do it again.
I was just throwing out a reason for your battery being dead. Did you figure that part out?
My cousin was killed by someone who behaved just like you, but he died and the guy got jailed!
That said...
If the cops saw you get out of a car drunk, you would be in jail now (which in my opinion is where you should be for now...if not just to learn your lesson.)
You can't just say you have learnt from this and expect to be berated by us, you MUST never do this again and you MUST seek help to ensure that.
Also what kind of friends do you have that let you do this! Get new friends as well. More importantly ask yourself why you got so drunk? and why you drove your car somewhere where you would be drinking in the first place?!?.
Maybe go to the local AA, or police citizens support group and ask for support and help, before you kill someone or yourself (trust me; it is the people left behind that suffer the most!)
"So alternate, against the grain, anti establishment - so you're just a regular joe again, right?"
I mean, outside shot this is all a big set-up. You get blind drunk, friend(s) drive you home, put you to bed, set some stuff up on the computer to make it look like you were panicking about an arrest, park the car shoddily in the car park and take your keys.
Possibly a long shot, but I guess you need to start piecing together what happened last night somewhere and friends you were drinking with would probably seem like a good place to start.
That seems more logical than anything at this point. Cops will put you in the paddy wagon if you are drunk driving no matter what.
A message about "being in trouble" could refer to a realization that you have to change your lifestyle. You did something with your keys to make sure you never drive drunk again. County court webpage up because you were considering turning yourself in so as not to endanger anyone?
It's possible that you 'parked' your car and passed out. Someone may have found you, and pitched/taken your key, lied about being an undercover cop, and told you to go home. Then they left your car (which sounds like it's been in an accident) and hoped they did the right thing. You thought the cops were real, and started looking up information, changed your display name, and passed out.
If the cops found you in the state you were in, you really really wouldn't be having this problem. If they couldn't find your key and didn't want to charge you with DWI due to lack of evidence and you being at home, they would have, at the very least, towed your car to "teach you a lesson". Most likely they would have booked you anyway, for public intoxication or something, and let you sleep it off in jail. If you went upstairs, got another set of keys, and decided to "park your car better" and ended up killing someone, the cops would have been in some deep shit.
Start looking at alcohol related recovery programs and book something now, while you're scared and feel like shit. Don't wait, do it.
Since this happened last night, it is highly unlikely they have filed it with the Clerk's office yet, but if you have a court date, it should definitely be on the docket.
If nothing appears, follow up with them every two days. Also ask if they have their docket available online (most large counties do), and you can check it yourself.
At no point do you have to say who you are, since, this is all public records at the moment.
With that in mind you should probably check your car, pockets, etc for somebody's insurance information; or just look for your own info and see if its in the place it normally is. If your insurance info is in a different place then you could have possibly exchanged it with the person's car you hit.
[common sense] Also, never do this again. If you plan to drink, don't drive to your destination. If your vehicle is at home you can't drive it home from the bar.
[/common sense]
Alright, I found the website (http://www.monroe.ny.us.landata.com/default.asp), searched all court filings in the criminal division for all instrument types (accusatory instrument, affirmation of service, certificate of conviction, etc...) with my last name as the defendant. Nothing came up. The page says it has records from up to today. The date of the incident was early in the morning on the ninth. I guess that settles it unless I'm completely mistaken about the purpose of that website or what the record search covered.
As for asking my friends, I did. None of my close ones knew what happened to me because they left before I did. I do have a few acquaintances that I think I was with the rest of the night.
As far as hitting something, I checked my car for damage. The only visible damage is the side view mirror.
Check a couple more times over the rest of the week. Some Clerk's Offices are slower than others about getting new material entered on the docket. Leon County, Florida, has a good policy of "Before 10 AM, appears by 10 AM the next day, otherwise, 10 AM the day after that." Others are "when we get to it, I'm the only one here and I also keep the Judge's calendar, and sort incoming mail, etc." My point is, just keep checking it in case it appears later.
After a week passes, you're probably fine. I'd check at the end of the week following just to be sure, and then two weeks after that. If after those 30 days nothing has appeared, in all likelihood, there isn't anything there.
I would go apologize to your landlord.
Also, if you were given a DUI, soon you'll get a letter telling you when you can expect to appear in court.
Check your county laws.
It was over at that point. I did the sobriety test, did it fairly well considering he asked me to balance on one leg and I have bad knees from football. He then cuffed me and took me in to county, I blew barely over the legal limit. Not justifying what I did, I was wrong and I know it and I'll never drive after I've been drinking again. I just want to post this to show that even under seemingly favorable circumstances it can still happen.
you probably lost your keys in the grass or something after you parked "near" your apartment. If you encountered the cops it was probably because you may have been dicking around near your car by the road/driveway late at night. Anything could have happened. But dude, DUI is serious shit. For me, although I'm pretty humanist and caring and moral, its not even a moral issue. I'm a control freak and i live in New Orleans, my best friends live average 30 miles away. I need my car. And i dont need to pay extra HUNDREDS of dollars of month for that DUI drive device you must install after you get a DUI. Its a little easier for me to see that if i do X - the consequences will be horrendous for me. So that's why i do it. the selfish fear of something being taken away from me drives me not to drive drunk.
Of course I, and I'm sure others here, are guilty of driving under the influence - made more damning by the fact that I was on a motorcycle. Just not worth it.